Why was What's App banned?

tigerwife

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:17 pm

Personally, I think whatsapp is great. I get to easily KIT with my friends and family in America. I have been added to a group that was annoyingly spammy (not inappropriate but so annoying! Whyyyy must you forward every meme and video you receive?? Reminds me of the people who get email for the first time and are busy FW: FW: FW: FW:)

But I just ignore the media I get from that group (haven't dropped out because I'm still interested in the group messages).

Last edited by tigerwife on Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:18 pm; edited 1 time in total

youngishbear

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:18 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

But that silent majority would take a reminder seriously as well.

Why ban? Is it - do they love the drama? Is it like I said pages back - they think this is their legacy, their magnum opus that they'll be remembered for in a 100 years?

Plus, reminders make me feel so much guiltier than bans. Gentle admonishment is always more effective than forceful action.

My point is that this "silent majority" doesn't think responding with a witty retort is flirting. They don't think that a clip that arrives titled "hysterical video!! #mustwatch you'll plotz!!!" may contain content they wouldn't choose to watch had they known. And once they do, they get desensitized... and it leads to mixed dancing.

Just kidding. I just see that it leads to a general decline, and I guess that's what the rabanim are trying to halt with the bans.

Does it work? That's a separate question. My posts are about what I understand the intentions behind it to be.

gp2.0

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:19 pm

tigerwife wrote:

I think this is the thought process behind these kinds of bans:

Person with agenda: Rebbe! There is a new kind of technology called whatsapp that brings terrible untznius pictures and videos into heilige yidishe homes and also causes shalom bayis issues and major bittul Torah!

Rebbe: Oy vey! No one in our community may have such a terrible thing!

Really, how would you react?
I think there is actually a very similar dialogue on video regarding banning the Internet.

I would seek to verify this information by a) doing my own research into this technology to find out if it's true b) getting more than just one opinion c) finding out if there is any good use out of this technology d) figuring out the best way to approach this so that people can still use the technology but are more cautious to act in a Torah'dig way.

Maya

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:20 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

I mean, you would expect as much from people who are considered community leaders, no? It shouldn't be too much to ask.

Maya

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:24 pm

tigerwife wrote:

Care to elaborate?

My grandfather always repeated this story (probably just a parable)
A rosh yeshiva is told by his advisers that there's a new "moda" among the boys to wear bow ties, and that the rosh yeshiva should give a speech condemning this new fashion trend. He gets up and says his piece, and there's a murmur in the crowd because he himself is wearing a bow tie.
That's what people who follow their askanim's advice without any further research look like.

gp2.0

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:29 pm

youngishbear wrote:

OK I have come to realize that apparently there are very few people with internal spam filters. (Other than on this thread, where apparently there are many. It's a mystery.) People who see FW: FW: FW: and just delete without reading. People who see "hysterical video!!" and think, "eh, it's probably dumb. Maybe later. Or maybe not."

Maybe it's because I'm not starved for it. I do not censor my reading or watching. I am probably at the bottom of the decline you mentioned and I still understand that it's not ok to forward a racy pic.

Or I guess I was just born lucky. I was born with the internal spam filter gene and others were not. Sorry, you guys. Twisted Evil

gp2.0

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:31 pm

Maya wrote:

I mean, you would expect as much from people who are considered community leaders, no? It shouldn't be too much to ask.

You know, you'd think that because I grew up in this community I'd understand it, but honestly most of the time I am just baffled. (The rest of the time I am infuriated.)

tigerwife

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:39 pm

gp2.0 wrote:

How many times can you read 10 AMAZING SIDEWALK ARTISTS!! Or every other Jimmy Kimmel clip?

gp2.0

Thu, Jun 18 2015, 6:44 pm

tigerwife wrote:

How many times can you read 10 AMAZING SIDEWALK ARTISTS!! Or every other Jimmy Kimmel clip?

Exactly. I thereby propose a new solution to the problem: everyone should be bombarded with as much friendly spam as possible for a period of six months. By the time it's over, they'll be automatically deleting without reading. No ban necessary.

You're welcome.

boymom

Fri, Jun 19 2015, 12:11 am

just a thought to the posters who were discussing about people being able to choose from right and wrong, or how to use tools properly....
(im not expressing my opinion about the ban or about whatsapp in general because right now I don't have a smartphone at all but may very well have one in the near future. I see the pros and cons of whatsapp but cant really have opinion if im not in the situation.)

this being said, I was just thinking that a lot of things we do in yiddishkeit, things we do without even thinking are all derabanan. very few halachos are deoiraisa. when we learned halachah in school, the teacher was forever saying things like "this is derabanan. its easier to be maykil because its derabanan. if you are oiver in the times of bais hamikdash then punishment is xyz because not deoiraisa....etc"
think muktza, which is a geder: why can't you touch a pen? let pple touch pens on Shabbos so that way they can exercise their choices of whether or not to write. or how about just using tools properly- not to write of course, but maybe just to chew on cuz im nervous-nothing wrong wiht that. really erliche yidden will for sure not write, and all the lowlifes will write on Shabbos regardless of the geder. so whats the point of banning things????

we can think like this on almost everything in yiddishkeit.
but we are all obviously human and we all have a yetzer hara. each generation has their own unique yetzer hara and as we all know , humans have this amazing tendency to momentarily forget things/pretend to forget things.
why do we accept psak from chachomim of thousands of years ago, but from chachomim from today??? hmmm. we are waaaay smarter (im talking to myself too for that matter- we can all use chizzuk in emunas chachomim)