Comparing our generation to previous ones

Chayalle

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 8:43 am

gold21 wrote:

I don't think so.

I think materialism is. In our world, it is acceptable to be very frum and still very materialistic... Which is kind of contradictory.

It's like the hidden nisayon, something that is considered acceptable but really should not be accepted. Simplicity is "out", materialism is "in". Youre supposedly not frum enough if you have a smartphone, even though it has practical applications to your life... but it's somehow OK to obsess over your appearance, drop money you don't have on ridiculous things, and essentially worship materialism, which is utterly pointless.

Sorry if I sound like a Rebbetzin lol. Just responding to this thread.

Double like.....you said what I meant in an earlier post, but much better.

amother

Jade

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 2:23 pm

Sorry to bring the internet back into the discussion, but I can't even begin to describe the way social media has taken the frum world's obsession with materialism and run with it.

Facebook posts about every restaurant we've eaten in, every vacation we take, every party we attend.

Instagram tags about everything and anything we think noteworthy from weddings to upscale events, to the latest strollers and wigs.

WhatsApp enabled sharing of the same things, literally allowing thousands to see the latest and the greatest in just minutes.

I can go on...it's insane. And the problems it spawnd are infinite.

tichellady

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 3:12 pm

amother wrote:

You can use the internet and not do that. It's a choice you can make just like everything else.

I find this conversation to be ridiculous. the premise that the internet is similar to the challenge of working on Shabbat or converting to Christianity???

PinkFridge

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 4:02 pm

tichellady wrote:

No. It's much more subtle.
It reminds me of the discussion over Rav Noach Weinberg, zt"l, using the word Holocaust to describe the extent of assimilation.
What it's doing to us is not to be minimized. As I've said, read books like Virtually You by Dr. Elias Aboujaude. There are other excellent books too but I haven't read them.

gold21

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 4:27 pm

Excessive materialism exists in communities that do not use WhatsApp or Facebook. I honestly don't believe that to be the root cause of the issue.

I was raised with simpler standards and live with simpler standards, and I am often taken aback by what others consider "normal", even in communities that speak out against social media and the dangers of the internet. Even in more sheltered communities, like Williamsburg or whatever, there is an emphasis on materialism. So the issue doesn't seem to be a product of the internet era.

My friends always try to educate me. LOL

I'm like that clueless friend. Wink

It's kinda funny.

tichellady

Fri, Feb 03 2017, 4:48 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

I find that problematic too. I guess we are just on different pages on this

zaq

Sat, Feb 04 2017, 8:45 pm

gold21 wrote:

Excessive materialism exists in communities that do not use WhatsApp or Facebook. I honestly don't believe that to be the root cause of the issue.

Quite so. Fifty years ago I had already heard jokes about a certain sector of the population infamous for having chandeliers in their bathrooms. (I discounted the tales till I saw this phenomenon with my own eyes.)

amother

Jade

Sat, Feb 04 2017, 11:21 pm

gold21 wrote:

I'm like that clueless friend. Wink

It's kinda funny.

Didn't say internet was the cause just that it helps make things worse.

gold21

Sat, Feb 04 2017, 11:35 pm

amother wrote:

Didn't say internet was the cause just that it helps make things worse.

Oh, yeah, I hear you. You're probably right.