In praise of low tech

I HAVE three computers in my office: low tech, medium tech, and high tech.

The operating system on the low tech computer is MS DOS. No doubt, many people in their teens, twenties and perhaps thirties have never heard of it. It’s “ancient.” Am I the only person in the world who still uses MS DOS?

I use it for this simple reason: It’s faster and easier than medium or high-tech computers for the purposes to which I put it. My low tech MS DOS accomplishes what computers are supposed to accomplish: time saving. I write this column on MS DOS, which, precisely because it has fewer features, is quicker for typing.

My medium tech computer is a PC that runs Microsoft Word. Good for email. A lot clumsier for typing than MS DOS.

My high tech computer is a Mac that runs Quark Xpress, a sophisticated page make-up program on which IJN pages are produced. It’s clumsy for typing and slower than a PC for email, but great for page layout. (I might add, Quark Xpress is one of the best toys I’ve ever had.)

My bottom line is this: Technology is here to serve me, not the other way around. If a program is more prestigious, more enticing, and has more features than I need, why bother? If a program does not serve my needs, who needs it?

Which is precisely my take on the Internet: It’s here to serve me, not enslave me.

I GOT to thinking about this when New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he was imposing sugar restrictions in the city, and when Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman was pleading for restrictions on the Internet.

Two very dissimilar groups made one very similar point: Nanny Street and low tech intersect.

Here comes NYC Mayor Bloomberg imposing an anti-sugar message: No more sales of sodas in cups larger than 16 ounces.

And here comes Rabbi Ephraim Wachman (and others) imposing an anti-Internet message, well, not exactly imposing it, but very strongly discouraging Internet usage to 40,000 listeners at the Mets’ CitiField.

Mayor Bloomberg figures that government has to pay for obesity, so he’s telling citizens what to do in their private lives. This is Nanny State; though, to be fair, Bloomberg is reacting to the increasing public preference for the government to pay for health care. Still, it’s ridiculous. It’s not the act of a leader in a free society.

Rabbi Wachsman has a better leg to stand on. He’s a private citizen, with no power other than the power of persuasion. He’s saying: Go low tech.

He’s saying: Jews are the people of the book. “Torah study is as important as all other mitzvos combined.” Non-business use of the Internet challenges that. What should I do with my precious free time — open another website, or study a Jewish text? Rabbi Wachman sees his own Orthodox community choosing another website. Entertainment trumps Torah.

Let me secularize that. What is more worthwhile — to surf the Internet; or to interact with people personally, to engage in human conversation, to read, to write, to think and to visit the great outdoors? If that’s my choice — the Internet on one side and all those other things on the other — I vote against the Internet.

From an opposite point of view, let me historicize this. New technology, upon its first appearance, always arouses the opposition. It is threatening, but no matter how much it is denounced it is never defeated. It is only adapted to.

Which brings us to Rabbi Wachsman’s second concern: the ensnaring quality of the Internet. His flock, he says, looks at visually inappropriate websites. The Internet is ruining their lives. Of course, you need not be Orthodox or Jewish to be ruined by visually inappropriate websites.

Here’s the rub: There are countless ways to help, or even save, your life via the Internet. We have all heard stories of people who are suddenly diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and then research it on the Internet. They learn what questions to ask of health professionals. They learn which treatments are best, and the best treatment centers. They learn whether experimental treatments are available.

Not to mention the money savings available on the Internet.

Not to mention the Torah study available over the Internet.

Not to mention the ironies: Orthodox publications that report on the anti-Internet rally at the Mets’ CitiField rely on the Internet to publish their reports. As I say, the new technology is never defeated; only adapted to.

This is my adaptation: Stick to low tech as much as possible. I repeat: The Internet is supposed to help me, not enslave me. I avoid most websites on the grounds that they will enrich me not nearly so much as many other things. When people tell me that I must see such and such a website, I ask myself: Who is in control of my time here: me, or them? And, I use filters.

Plus, I don’t do email out of the office. I need email for business. After that, I need a rest. Texting? I don’t do it. Same reason.

Low tech.

RABBI Wachsman is incredibly inspiring. His tapes bring me to tears. The radius of his knowledge is astounding. And he wears it with such ease. The difference, ultimately, between Mayor Bloomberg and Rabbi Wachsman is that a mayor’s job is political. A rabbi’s job is spiritual. Rabbi Wachsman looks at the Internet as much more than a technical challenge.

“The Internet is a culture, a psychology, a way of life. It’s reprogramming our way of thinking, our emotions, our sensitivities. It’s changing who we are. It is about the moment. People say the great Torah scholars don’t understand the Internet. Maybe they’re right. But instant gratification — we can’t wait for the news for one more second! Who are we becoming? Don’t we feel we are becoming someone else? We hear from our grandparents how they could make a seder even in Auschwitz. What are we going to tell our grandchildren? That we couldn’t live without another website?”

That we needed another site instead of another sunset?

Or instead of another conversation?

Or another point of Torah?

Or book or poem or Shabbos?

Or prayer?

Or, in my case, another peek at the commentary of the Vilna Gaon?

High tech can take us to high places.

And precipitate steep falls.

Low tech can preserve our perspective and our humanity.

Don’t google it. Think about it.

Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News