The odds are stacked against me — against all of us — to the point that we are not fighting a fair fight

A Chronicle of Tech Change

The Challenge

After the Nekadesh event last June, I decided to switch from a smartphone to a dumb phone, curious to see how it would affect my tech habits and my life.

I shared this decision with quite a few of my friends and acquaintances, and after they all expressed interest in hearing more, I decided I’d chronicle the first few weeks.

The Background

I think I’m a pretty good test subject, fairly average as things go. I’m a middle-age woman with a moderate size family, kids ranging in age from about ten years old to adult. I live in Passaic; not the center of the frum world, but not in the boondocks either. I work in the local high school part time as head mechaneches and hashkafah teacher; it’s not the most high-stress job out there, but certainly one that keeps me busy.

What does make me different is that I’ve done extensive research about technology use and its effects on users for my book, Tech Talk. I wrote Tech Talk about seven years ago, at a time when the conversations about the impact of technology on the frum community were just beginning. The secular world was coming out with preliminary research about how technology was affecting society and the individual, and I wanted to explore that information as it would relate to a frum eved Hashem.

The Experiment

I knew turning the spotlight on myself and my own tech habits while making the switch to a flip phone would be interesting, because with my background, I’d likely be more able than most to see and understand what was really going on.

It’s been a year since I started tracking my development. My experiment continues — but more about that later. Here’s how it all started.