Mrs. Segal had just reinforced the message that technology restrictions are terribly inconvenient

By Yossie Strickman, as told to Bayla Hersher

ASsoon as I saw that the four-year-old had his own tablet, I knew I would have a problem.

“Our kids have tablets that need to be filtered,” Mr. Segal had said on the phone, so I assumed the kids shared one or two of them.

But when I arrived at their Monsey home, I saw each of the five Segal kids holding a tablet — which meant they were accustomed to having technology available at all times and would resist having that freedom limited by a filter. It also likely meant that they were emotionally attached to their devices.

Very attached, I thought, looking at the Segals’ eldest daughter, who was hunched protectively over her tablet and eyeing me skeptically.

She was sitting at the far end of their large dining room table, as if to put as much distance between the two of us as possible. The rest of the kids and Mrs. Segal were seated on the opposite end, facing me and Mr. Segal.

“Hi, guys,” I said with a wave. “It’s nice to meet all of you.”

They greeted me with varying degrees of enthusiasm, while Mr. Segal introduced them one by one.

“This is Shifra,” he said, gesturing to his eldest. “She’s thirteen. Ezzy is twelve, Riki is eight, Layla is six, and Asher is four.”

I sat down at the table across from Ezzy and made small talk with the family for a few minutes. Then I took out my computer and cut to the chase.

“Who knows why I’m here?” I asked the kids.

“To put filters on our tablets,” Ezzy answered.

“And,” Shifra called from the other side of the room, “you’re going to tell us why it’s important so that when we get phones, we won’t fight with our parents about filtering them.

“Right, Mom?” she asked dryly, turning to her mother.

“Yes, exactly,” Mrs. Segal nodded, calmly ignoring her daughter’s frustration. And then, with a wry smile, she added, “At least I know you’re paying attention.”

I decided to play dumb for a moment so I could spark a discussion.

“Why would you fight with your parents about getting a filter?”

“It’s just annoying,” Shifra answered. “We’re not doing anything wrong, so we don’t really need one. And it’s totally going to block things we want.”