Recently, a message was posted on social media and circulated rapidly. The message consisted of a photo of a poster hanging at the entrance of an American nursery in Texas and read as follows:

Dear Parents,

You are now collecting your children, let go of your phones!

The poster also read:

"We have witnessed children trying to show their parents the crafts they had made, but their parents were too busy on their phones. We have heard a child call "Mom, mom", but her mother was more focused on her phone than on her child. This is very worrisome! "

This message which was shared by more than a million people, is in my opinion, the exact reason why I do not have, (and please G-d, I will never have) a smartphone.

Indeed, within Orthodox communities, the subject of smartphones has long become a cultural issue and the topic of many halachic discussions. Nonetheless, even in this milieu, smartphones labelled 'Kosher’, can be found. But, this type of phone also does not suit me. As for my old phone, it can only do one thing: make and receive phone calls. Oh ... it also serves as my alarm clock. That's it.

I don’t have a phobia of technology, nor do I suffer from a surplus of nostalgia of the past. I don’t listen to music from a Walkman, and I don’t use a typewriter to type a text. However, when it comes to mobile phones, I am sure that every step forward is just a step backwards, not in technological progress, but for humanity.

''But you have a computer! What's the difference?'' is a comment I have heard numerous times.

Here are a number of differences: Once I close my laptop, I no longer receive notifications of new messages that distract my mind. When I go into another room, I don’t take my laptop with me. When I go and fetch my children from Gan (daycare), or when I take them for a walk, my laptop does not join us. When we sit on the couch for story time, the laptop is not with us.

This does not mean that computers do not distract our minds. Particularly for parents, who, like me, work from home, it is sometimes difficult to separate the time reserved for work from which is devoted to the house and the children. Nevertheless, a laptop is not sufficiently compact and portable to be able to have on hand during our various activities. Which is unfortunately not the case for smartphones.

In the neighbourhood where I live, my decision is not out of the ordinary. The majority of parents go out with their children and are focused on their children and not on their phones. While they may answer a call, the number of communications we receive today is 60 times less than the number of messages, applications, or services to which the smartphone exposes us. I am however aware, that I live in a 'bubble.'

When I recently met up with a few friends, we had a heated debate around the following question: is it legitimate for a babysitter to be permanently attached to her WhatsApp and entertain the children by showing them all types of videos on her smartphone? The general consensus was that such behavior was perfectly acceptable. "Do you act differently when you are with your own children?”, one of the participants argued. "Why would it be forbidden for the babysitter if it is ok for you? " I also learnt then that 'there is no choice but to buy a smartphone for even elementary school children because otherwise they will not be involved with what their peers are up to.' What their peers are up to…! It turns out that only smartphones are up to anything…the world is upside-down!

Believe me: I also understand the attraction of a smartphone. On many occasions, when I set up appointments for interviews, people are stunned to discover that they can't send me messages through WhatsApp. In fact, they can't even send me an SMS. The only option they have left is to use an old-fashioned technique ... to send me an email. In addition, more than once, I realized what a great help 'waze' is when traveling. I also know that a smartphone allows one to be connected to their job when on a journey. This certainly helps to make life easier.

Nevertheless, it still does not tempt me. My life may be slightly more difficult in the absence of a smartphone, but it is, in my eyes, a much healthier one. As social surveys, show, including those of the Israeli anthropologist Tamir Lion, smartphones have connected us to the virtual world, but they have essentially, and sadly, distanced us from ourselves and from those who are close to us.

 Johanna Levy