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"The Basketball Game" is a graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning National Film Board of Canada animated short of the same name – intended for audiences aged 12 years and up. It's a poignant tale of the power of community as a means to rise above hatred and bigotry. In the end, as is recognized by the kids playing the basketball game, we're all in this together.

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Tag: cellphones

Put down “the ducky” in shul

I chatted with a friend recently about what it was like in “the old days” when someone had to take a cellphone call during synagogue. This is when there were only big, clunky cellphones. I remember seeing a doctor on call pacing in the lobby. He – and it was usually a man – looked apologetic as he listened carefully. It was an emergency. It was a doctor who needed to attend to a patient, even though it was Shabbat and he was at services.

Given the circumstances, we recognized it was OK, because it was pikuach nefesh. He was helping save a life and that level of emergency is allowed, no matter how observant you are, on Shabbat. You put a person’s life above everything else.

The media has done many features where they reflect on research that shows how social media and being attached to a cellphone or other device has affected our health. It can keep us from interacting in the real world with other people, from sleeping or focusing properly. Social media increases our anxiety levels and, sometimes, it’s an addiction. Waiting to get that next update, from a friend or a news source, can sometimes seem more important than any actual person or event taking place in the same room.

My kids know the lesson from Sesame Street and the classic song, “Put down the ducky!” Ernie wants to play the saxophone, but Hoots the Owl tells him, “Put down the ducky if you want to play the saxophone!” It’s a lesson that we must break habits – like carrying a cellphone or the rubber ducky – to learn something new, make music and interact with others.

In the Jewish context, I see it everywhere. It’s at services, lectures, at the Passover seder or Shabbat table, at the kids’ events and play dates. It’s so pervasive that those doing it don’t even realize they are blocking out the world to engage with their electronics. It’s like a body part for those folks, while its noise means others can’t concentrate.

I was at a family service on Shabbat when we were interrupted with what sounded like a radio playing. It seemed to drift on and off and it was terribly distracting. Are we hyper-aware of such things? Absolutely. I am always tired and it makes me extra sensitive to noise and stimulation. There are some folks in my family who are also noise-sensitive. Too much noise and chaos often means we just have to leave. It’s too much.

Meanwhile, while the radio-like sound continued to compete with the prayers, adults in the back kept talking over it all. My husband, usually immune, looked bothered. I encouraged him to get up and ask someone to shut it off, since I sat with a kid on my lap. I thought it might be somewhere outside, but I was wrong. It was one of the talking adults, who failed to even notice that her phone was making the noise. Even when it was finally shut off, the adults continued to talk.

The interference was so pervasive and distracting that I couldn’t wait to leave. At Kiddush, at the end of the service, I heard someone say to a kid, “You can go ask the rabbi, he’s not praying now.”

That was it in a nutshell. I found myself wondering what the heck we were doing there. Are you coming to synagogue to play live-streaming radio and talk loudly? If you aren’t praying, or even sitting quietly, as a role model for kids, why bother coming to disrupt everyone else?

Some might say this is just an isolated incident, but it’s pervasive. On Yom Kippur, there was a grandfather who thought it was OK to hop up and snap photos with his phone during the service.

As I looked at the Torah portion, Behukotai, Leviticus 26:3-27:34, for the first week of June this year, I remembered this experience. It’s a portion that emphasizes all the amazing things offered by the Divine Presence “if you follow my laws and observe my commandments.” It’s a carrot-and-stick story, it clearly states the bad things that will happen to those who don’t follow the rules.

Our understanding of the laws and commandments may have changed, but social norms still exist. We live in a society with clear tension between individuality and the common good. If you judge someone else’s behaviour, you can be told that judgment is inappropriate – even when the individual isn’t behaving in a considerate or safe way for the community. If you feel uncomfortable with someone’s behaviour, we’re taught “we can only control ourselves and our response to it.”

You may not want to stop social media use on Shabbat or want to pray at services, and that’s your choice. However, it’s probably not your place to keep others distracted with your phone so they cannot concentrate on prayer. If you’re set on having it your way, and don’t want to think about others, why join a community Jewish event to do it?  Stay home to use your cellphone instead.

Winnipeg prides itself on being a friendly place, and inspired other places to adopt a United Way campaign day of “conscious kindness.” It might be time to live the slogan and think of others – if you can’t put down the phone for your own sake, please do it for ours.

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. See more about her at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

Posted on May 31, 2019May 30, 2019Author Joanne SeiffCategories Op-EdTags cellphones, etiquette, Judaism, lifestyle, Sesame Street, synagogue, Torah
Digital impact on our lives

Digital impact on our lives

(photo from publicdomainpictures.net)

Dr. Simon Trepel, child analyst and psychiatrist at the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre, is seeing an increasing number of children and teenagers using phones – even during sessions.

“I was hearing more and more from parents about some difficulties they were having around technology and screen time,” said Trepel. “I was noticing, even in my own family, how pervasive screens are becoming … as a preferred source of entertainment, as well.

“When this stuff marinates in you for awhile, it makes you curious about deeper questions about what’s going on. It ultimately behooves anybody who is working in mental health to start wondering about all the ingredients that might be contributing to someone’s mental health…. I became more curious about how these devices and screen time might be affecting, not just kids and teens, but, really, all of us.”

According to Trepel, using technology in daily life is no longer a choice. It is a fundamental part of how we all get by. Most of us check our phones several times a day, and conduct business and communication on our phones or tablets almost exclusively.

He said there are about four billion people using the internet right now worldwide, and a third of those people are children and teens. There are about five billion people using mobile phones and a little over three billion people on social media at any given time, he said. And, these are all increases of anywhere from five to 15% in comparison to the previous year.

“These trends are changing how we communicate,” said Trepel. “They are changing how much face-to-face communication we have and the nature of the communication itself. The previous generation would use words and texts. Now, videos, pictures and memos are the preferred way to communicate. It’s changing the very ingredients we use to communicate with one another.”

There are implications to this change, especially in children, whose not yet fully developed brains are particularly susceptible to getting into trouble online. But, Trepel said, there is something that can be done – and it starts with adults getting off their phones and other screens, especially when around young people. We also need to start talking about these issues, as kids who come from homes that discuss such topics tend to be less at risk.

“When there’s a more negotiated amount of technology use and supervision and things like that, that is a good thing,” said Trepel. “But, there are many, many kids who have a combination of not a lot of supervision combined with having an immature brain, and these kids are the ones we are most worried about getting into trouble online.

“We worry that screens are displacing a lot of other activities that might be healthier than being on technology – things like getting adequate sleep or being outside. The amount of hours spent outside is now at about half of what it used to be. It’s gone from about 18 hours a week to about seven hours a week in one single generation.”

Getting a handle on this will not be easy, but it starts with parents making the time to fully understand the tech diet of their kids. Just like we monitor their food intake, we need to monitor their tech intake.

“Sit down with them and let them take you through a typical day,” advised Trepel. “What types of sites are they using and for how long? What types of interactions are they are having on this site? The timing of this is important. Is it the first thing they do in the day, getting on their device? Is it the last thing they do before bed? Do they themselves detect any problems with their screen use? Are they running into any cyber-bullying or being taken advantage of? Do they feel better or worse after using their phones? Do they notice phones cutting into their sleep, or do they notice themselves having a difficult time stopping themselves from checking? This is the beginning of getting data about how your kids and teens are using their phones. But, it’s also starting to ask the question of whether or not this is becoming a problem for your kid or teen.”

Trepel suggested that, when you monitor your kids, you want to make sure it is active monitoring – that you are co-viewing and discussing the sites that they are on. It is also important to avoid spy-type programs, he said, as kids will find ways to work around them.

Aim to be playing together, following each other on social media. Use any opportunity for educational guidance – not so much making it a single conversation, but, instead, an ongoing dialogue about the device. You can ask for their help learning about social media, for example. “I think that’s a very elegant way to cover a lot of bases,” said Trepel. “It allows the parent to learn a lot about what the kid is using, in terms of technology use. But, it also updates the parents as to what these social media sites are all about – how they are navigated, how they are used.

“It may also be a great way for kids and parents to spend more time together, interacting with each other, teaching each other. While they might teach you about Twitter, you might be able to point out various ways they are using the technology that might be helpful or harmful. You might, if the child teaches you Twitter, find out if the child has a public account and is being followed by hundreds of people the child has never met before.

“It’s not only a way to have a child feel good about helping a parent, but, once the parent knows more about the technology, the parent can start to look for red flags.”

Studies have shown that parental behaviour is one of the most powerful influences on a child’s behaviour. So, Trepel suggests taking an honest look at yourself as a parent, about how embedded these devices are in your own life. And then, start to change that for yourself, while also becoming a good role model for your kids.

“You want to be proactive with your kids,” said Trepel. “You don’t want to wait until there’s a problem. You want to educate them to the possibility of problems.

“You also want to be proactive about texting and driving. This really might be the drinking and driving of our generation. I remember, when I was in high school, there was MADD, Mother’s Against Drunk Driving. I think we need some sort of revival of that, looking at parents being concerned about texting and driving. The stats from Manitoba are striking that, just five or 10 years ago, we were seeing maybe 3,000 collisions per year. And, in the span of just a few years, it’s now up to 11,000 collisions involving distracted driving per year – a four- or fivefold increase, about 30 distracted driving collisions a day.”

Trepel said it is best to avoid taking technology away without offering an alternative. Make it easy for kids to see their friends in real life, he said. Let them go over to their friends’ houses, take them places they want to go, and do things they want to do – provide them with in-person opportunities. Play a board game, do arts-and-crafts, encourage them to learn to play an instrument or participate in a sport. Off-screen activities, he said, have a greater likelihood of making your kids feel happy as compared to on-screen activities.

Trepel suggested having your kids turn off their phone notifications at important times of the day, like sleep time, family time, meal time, school time, and so on. And make sure that you do the same.

“Every time we get a signal from our phone, it could be someone liking our photo or giving us a compliment, or something we anticipate might be good,” said Trepel. “And that reward system in our brain kicks into gear and compels us to want to check what the notifications are. Once our screen is on and in our hands, we might end up surfing or doing something else we weren’t even intending to do – at the expense of whatever original activity we were doing before the notification occurred. So, we have to make sure that we turn off all those attention stealers.”

Trepel recommended that parents turn off the wifi after 9 p.m., or even earlier, if they think there will be a significant battle to have their kids turn off their screens in the evening or if it is affecting their ability to do homework.

Or, he added, you can get your kids a phone with no internet capabilities. Some executives, he said, have even switched back to such phones, as they were wasting too much of their time when they had a phone with more tech capabilities.

For starters, Trepel said, begin the conversation. Ask your kids for ways to keep things under control. Dialogue, go back and forth, and find ways that work for your family.

Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

Format ImagePosted on June 8, 2018June 6, 2018Author Rebeca KuropatwaCategories NationalTags cellphones, children, family, health, Simon Trepel, technology, teenagers
חקירה מואצת

חקירה מואצת

שדה התעופה אוטווה וב הבינלאומי. (צילום: P199 via Wikimedia)

המשטרה הפדרלית הקנדית (האר.סי.אם.פי) ושירות המודיעין הביטחוני הקנדי (סי.אס.איי.אס) פתחו בחקירה מואצת לגלות את זהות הגורם שריגל ועקב אחרי מכשירי טלפון ניידים, בבירה אוטווה ובשדה התעופה הבינלאומי ‘טרודו’ של מונטריאול. כך הודיע בשבוע שעבר השר לבטחון הציבור, רלף גודל. זאת, לאור תחקיר ראשון מסוגו בקנדה שנעשה על ידי רשת השידור הציבורית הקנדית – הסי.בי.סי, לפיו התנהלו מעקבים באמצעות מכשירי איי.אם.אס.איי קאטצ’ס אחרי טלפונים ניידים בדאון טאון של אוטווה, באזור בו ממוקמים משרדו של ראש הממשלה, ג’סטין טרודו, בית הפרלמנט הקנדי, המפקדה לביטחון לאומי, שגרירות ארצות הברית, שגרירות ישראל ואולפני הסי.בי.סי. בנוסף לפי הסי.בי.סי התנהלו מעקבים גם בשדה התעופה של מונטריאול.

צוות של ה.סי.בי.סי החזיק בידו מכשירים מיוחדים שבדקו במשך החודשים דצמבר וינואר שאכן נעשה שימוש במכשיר האיי.אם.אס.איי במשך למעלה מחודש, כדי לעקוב אחרי מכשירי סלולר ניידים, בהתאם למידע מוקדם שהרשת הציבורית קיבלה. כן התברר לצוות כאמור שהתנהל מעקב אחרי טלפונים ניידים באוטווה ובמונטריאול. גודל אמר בצורה חד-משמעית כי שום סוכנות ביטחון קנדית בהן האר.סי.אם.פי והסי.אס.איי.אס, לא ריגלה ועקבה אחרי מכשירים ניידים באוטווה. לדבריו בימים אלה מתנהלת חקירה לגלות מי אכן כן עשה זאת.

לדעת מומחים בתחום שלושה גורמים מסוגלים להחזיק בידיהם מכשירי איי.אם.אסי.איי ולעקוב אחרי מכשירים ניידים: גורמי ביטחון וריגול קנדיים, גורמי ביון זרים כמו של הרוסים, הסינים או הישראלים, או ארגוני פשע גדולים. לפי הנתונים שאסף הסי.בי.סי ושנמסרו למומחים כנראה שגורמי ביון זרים הם אלה שעקבו אחר פעילות של הטלפונים הניידים באוטווה. לדבריהם ידוע כי הרוסים כבר עשו שימוש בעבר במכשירי האיי.אם.אס.איי לרגל ולעקוב אחרי מכשירים ניידים בקנדה. יצויין כי השגרירויות באוטווה של סין, רוסיה, ארה”ב וישראל סירבו לחלוטין להגיב בפרשה.

מנושא לנושא ובאותו נושא: משטרת האר.סי.אם.פי הודתה בשבוע שעבר לראשונה כי במקרים מסויימים היא משתמשת בטכנולוגיה של מכשירי האיי.אם.אסי.איי, לעקוב אחר מכשירי טלפון ניידים וזאת בחקירות בנושאים פליליים ובטחוניים. השימוש במכשירים נעשה לזהות חשודים. לאר.סי.אם.פי יש כיום עשרה מכשירים מיוחדים לעקוב אחרי טלפונים ניידים, והם עשו שימוש בהם בארבעים ושלוש חקירות בשנתיים האחרונות (2014-2015). במשטרה הפדרלית הוסיפו עוד כי מכשירי האיי.אם.אס.איי שלהם מאפשרים לקלוט רק את מספרי טלפונים של המכשירים ניידים ולא את תוכנם. המומחים מציינים כי מכשירי מעקב איי.אם.אס.איי משוכללים יותר יכולים לכלול גם מידע על שיחות הטלפון, הודעות טקסט וכל תוכן אחר שמועבר באמצעות המכשירים הניידים. יש להוסיף עוד כי סוכנויות משטרה נוספות בקנדה מחזיקות גם הן במכשירי איי.אם.אס.איי לצורך מעקבים אחרי טלפונים ניידים בחקירות שונות.

ועוד בנושא ביטחון: הממשלה הפדרלית הקנדית מחפשת דרכים לשכנע את המגזר הפרטי להשקיע משאבים בשיפור הביטחון ברשת והגנה בפני מתקפות סייבר, שכל כך נפוצות לאחרונה. לאור זאת הממשלה הקנדית משתפת פעולה עם ממשלת ישראל בנושא. בחודשים האחרונים נערכו פגישות בין גורמים בכירים ביותר מקנדה ומישראל בסוגיה, תוך כוונה לקבל עזרה ישראלית בשיפור מערכי הבטחון ברשת. בממשלה הקנדית מודעים לעובדה שעל קנדה לעשות עוד כברת דרך ארוכה כדי לשפר את אמצעי הבטחון להגנה בפני מתפקות הסייבר, ויודעים היטב שישראל נחשבת למובילה עולמית בתחום. החודש פורסם דו”ח קנדי בנושא עם המלצות למגזר הפרטי כיצד לשפר את מערכי הבטחון ברשת. עם זאת בתקציב השנתי החדש של ממשלת הליברלים של טרודו לא הוזכר כלל תקצוב נושא הביטחון ברשת.

Format ImagePosted on April 12, 2017April 13, 2017Author Roni RachmaniCategories עניין בחדשותTags airport, cellphones, CSIS, Montreal, Ottawa, RCMP, אוטווה, האר.סי.אם.פי, טלפון ניידים, מונטריאול, סי.אס.איי.אס, שדה התעופה
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