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Life without the internet is possible, though a little less tolerable! It looks from the accounts of last night's Monsey gathering (up at S.) that the internet ban is gaining momentum and support in the chasidish and yeshivish communities. As easy as it is to dismiss the ban as yet another example extremist nonsense, consider this:

25 years ago, every Jewish family (except chassidim) had a television. Even though TV content was far less objectionable then than it is now, community leaders took it in their hands to issue a ban against TV ownership. At first it was considered a ridiculous fad, but soon schools would not accept children TVs at home, shidduchim would be rejected because the young adult in question grew up watching TV, etc., until the point where now TV ownership is universally unacceptable outside of Modern Orthodox, and anyone who dares to 'violate' the convention is forced to hide it and lie about it--hence the true, but rare, rumors of TVs hidden away in chasidic closets.

It goes without saying that the internet is a far more useful tool and more conducive to positive than TV, but TV isn't all bad either--with educational programming and business tools like the news or market analysis, the same pros and cons can be said about both. Just the same, both venues are full of shmutz and should be monitored for children and self-censored for adults.

I wonder... if TV went from marginally harmless, to should be used with discretion, to morally dangerous, to unacceptable to anyone within the community--in less than a generation, how long will it take for the internet to become equally prohibited? I predict this ban will become mainstream far faster, because it is based on real dangers that exist, i.e. porn or leitzanus. But is it fair that within a few years having the internet at home will be the moral equivalant of having a TV with full cable and adult channel access installed in your child's bedroom? I think not.

There has to be a more pragmatic approach than a full out ban. We have too much to lose, too much pressure to keep up with the information age, too much value placed on open discussion and accountability to shut the doors to everything the internet has to offer.