By COLlive reporter
The administration of Bais Rivkah High School in Crown Heights, working in collaboration with a group of parents of students at the school, have been developing a formula to curtail their students’ and daughters’ access to the internet.
COLlive.com has learned that the school and parents have been collaborating over the past few months to educate fellow parents, students and even teachers about responsible usage of modern technology.
They teamed up with Technology Awareness Group (TAG) to discuss the options of safeguards to enable appropriate usage of smartphones and other devices, a source said.
The parents requested that the school establish a firm policy and enforce rules and regulations to regulate and halt free access to the internet by insisting that all phones should be TAG’ed (through the Technology Awareness Group organization), thus helping the parents and the community at large maintain more control.
“A clear step by the BRHS administration will enable us, as parents, to better protect our children,” they said. “Most parents are completely unaware of the images and videos their children are exposed to through their smartphones. These not only serve as hindrances to our children’s Chassidishkeit, but they penetrate to the very core of their Yiddishkeit, compromising their devotion to Torah and Chassidus. This happens when there is an unfiltered stream of inappropriate internet content.”
TAG allows phones to be used for texting, calls, and even private chat groups such as What’s App, while avoiding many of the social difficulties that come from unlimited internet exposure, social media, and peer pressure to go on the internet.
To advance their cause, the group of parents have invited Alex Paskie, an app developer and a volunteer for T.A.G., to interact directly with parents to discuss the risks of unvetted access to the internet.
“He will discuss the technology, the risks and the necessary parameters needed in order to utilize modern technology in a responsible way,” one person involved said.
The event will be titled “Awareness Education: Boundaries on Technology and Smartphones” and will take place this Wednesday, February 22, at 8:00 PM. This event will be broadcasted on COLlive.com.
Stay tuned for details.
unfortunately seeing inappropriate things accidentally can happen bc it only 1 click of the button to be somewhere on the web where you had rather not be. Even the Ads on Collive are questionable unfortunately.
quote: seeing an inappropriate picture can wipe out 1000 maamorim (source unknown).
seeing something inappropriate at an impressionable age can CV have subtle but deep effects.
its making your device kosher. nothing to do with trust.
I agree. these days you need to have internet and phones, it’s just a part of this generation. No filter will stop that
look at how we have collive and tzivos hashem. they all use internet!
Where I come from you can get married at 16, buy a lottery ticket at 16, and drive at 17, all before you’re an adult! You can drink and vote at 18
If there is someone who has no desire to stop then no filter lock or any amount of trouble and yelling will NOT help so that’s why you have to teach and educate them in a not pressuring way and then you can go and install the filter when you yourself not your parents, teachers, freinds or anyone decide that it’s time to make my self boundaries cause is not where I want to or should be. But that dose not mean we have to let the next generation make the same mistakes as us again bay the time they… Read more »
HOW CAN YOU NOT USE INTERTERNET WHILE YOU ARE POSTING A COMMENT HERE?!?!?!?!?!?
I’m 15 and I hacked Tag. Just putting it out there
but some of us ARE 18, and we ARE old enough to do those things.
Just because the comment was approved at midnight doesn’t mean it was posted then… and we’ll be awake either way late with or without our phones. Thats how teenagers are. I have plenty of friends who are on their phone only a few minutes a day and go to sleep at 2.
Adults should also have a filter… just because they’re older doesn’t mean they can’t fall
Adults should also have a filter… just because they’re older doesn’t mean they can’t fall
I have a smartphone. It doesn’t need have a filter. You know why? Because my parents TRUST me. And because of that trust, I would never want to break it. So I learnt how to use the internet SAFELY. I wouldn’t mind if anybody checked my history . Now I know somebody who’s parents filtered their phone . They broke through it and go on terrible things . This is a completely stupid idea- TEACH your kids and students how to navigate the internet safely so that when adults they could be trusted people. Don’t BLOCK- TEACH. The internet is… Read more »
the Mishneh in Pirkai Ovos says:אל תאמין בעצמך עד יום מותך and here we are all able to “trust” ourselves and our children!?
To all the back and forth arguing over here……JUST LISTEN TO YOURSELVES!! Nobody is talking about taking away privacy.Nobody is talking about trust.We are talking about teaching INTERNET SAFETY!!which is crucial for adults and children. As far as teenagers saying “trust me”…..Hashem entrusted parents with precious neshama os and yes,He trusts that they will take good care of the neshamos He entrusted them with !! And making sure that Internet is only used safely and as and when necessary,is very much a part of it in today’s day and age.We in Lubavitch do not shun technology,shluchim use it for their… Read more »
How will you stop them?!
You ask”What makes us any more susceptible? Why are we any less able to make choices than you?”
The same reason adults can get married, buy lottery tickets, drive, drink and vote, and you can’t.
There are some things that come with age. Yes, you may know how to use a smartphone and your mom doesn’t. But that is technological. When it comes to judgement, you need a lot of experience behind you.
And I’m appalled at the number of girls who were up past midnight and/or before school, reading and commenting about how it’s ok for them to have access to all the shmutz. Do you realize that when our Rebbe resided in Paris, he was very careful to protect the kedusha of his eyes? The chossid Rabbi Sosonkin related: “Once walking down the street in Paris, I passed the Rebbe who was holding a fully opened newspaper in front of him. When the Rebbe noticed me, he commented, ‘Nu, it is impossible to walk in the streets of Paris with open… Read more »
will they be blocking Netflix as well??
And i actually think this is an amazing thing i want a filter because lets all be honest with ourselves, our phones are huge distractions, take up space in our brain, and we often see and hear things that really aren’t the best for us And we all know it This isn’t an issue about trust. Yes our parents and teachers can trust us, i even trust myself very much but its not about that at all. we are teenagers we don’t actually need internet on our phones. we can all survive without it and live sooo much more of… Read more »
Just one question. What makes us any more susceptible? Why are we any less able to make choices than you?
What is internet???
Certainly there are excellent and important websites and “tools” which may be reached via smart phones or other devices. Navigating to those applications or sites is fraught with dangers, both physical and spiritual, which many tend to casually ignore. However, the Rebbe said we should not watch television (and this was in the 1950’s when programs, some movies, and commercials were “pristine” compared to much internet content, today). To the best of my recollection, the Rebbe stated that the images our eyes see, both consciously and unconciously, are “seared” into our psyches. For example, just as one attempts to draw… Read more »
to #20: i dont know who you are.. but that doesn’t make any sense. What you are basically saying is also not to let us cross the street ourselves or not to ever have nay contact with fire just in case and not to be allowed to use knifes, that way we wont use it for the wrong thing. NO. That is not how it works. Don’t put on a filter, people will always find a way to get around it. Instead, educate on right and wrong thing. Trust is also very important. Personally, when my parents trusted me with… Read more »
For those taking trust personally: parents can trust their children but they cannot trust the internet and its affects. So putting a filter has nothing to do with trusting a child. Just about protection
Everyone needs protection, even from yourself
dear everyone, I understand that everyone is worried about technology and what we do on our phones but honestly we’re not doing anything bad. Most of us do exactly what our parents let us because we like being trusted and don’t want to break our parents trust. However, the second you start putting restrictions or asking to check our phones we block YOU out. We won’t stop doing the things we do, we’ll just stop trusting you and resent you. We need to feel trusted. I feel like people are forgetting that it is the 21st century and everything is… Read more »
The first in filtering phones. From experience it’s a great help but only if the person monitoring it is a mashpia and someone who you respect.
I’ve been reading the comments to this article, and to say the least it’s repulsive in the highest degree. firstly, in contrast to what anyone tells you, children should not be trusted. Granted, being overly protective parents and teachers can have a detrimental and possibly reverse effect on the child. Yet, filtering a smartphone is NOT unreasonable, and nobody understands such a rule more than the bachurim and girls the rules are imposed on. While it is important to teach our children not to drink alcohol, we won’t send them to a bar and “trust” them not to drink; we… Read more »
Sometimes problem are the parents that use internet irrestrict
What are you teaching your children?just not use it in school and at home you can?
I’m glad BR has teetered into the 21st century – the reality is, almost everyone has a cell phone & most of those are smartphones. Accept it & EDUCATE the kids on how to stay safe, rather than scream & yell & confiscate. Well done, BR!
You seemed to have missed something from #25 and I qoute “no app or monitering or filtering ALONE can ever work %100” “So in summery I think the school’s should have SOME rules and regulations” filters are a must but must also have education ….
From personnel experience I can say that there are 2 problems with a smartphone. 1) seeing inappropriate things… 2) being addicted and wasting lots of time. The 1st issue could be avoided with Introducing the newcomers to phones… how to use it with filters and why it’s important. Those that are already with phones need to hear why watching…. isn’t good for them… (a yid can’t live a Yiddish life with these things, they just make life harder in the future…). The 2nd issue can only be solved with some force, shutting down the phone at certain times… addiction to… Read more »
Internet is not like teaching a child how to use a knife, You would never bring a pornographic magazine into your house just because there is a wonderful article in the magazine and tell your children to look at the amazing article that is in there and not to look at the other stuff , open Internet on your children’s phones is actually worse than a pornographic magazine you have עבודה זרה שפיחת דמים and גלוי עריות all in one. Parents and teen agers alike be responsible and honest with yourself the Internet is bad for us all especially for… Read more »
If you put a filter from TAG, it’s guaranteed. My daughters friend tried to bypass the filter. It jammed her phone completely.
In other words just as we teach a child HOW to USE a knife and how to cross the street and how to deal with fire we must TEACH the HOW to USE their phone and the internet in a safe way
Kudos to BR for acknowledging the problem and wanting to fix it…. BUT as pointed out by many other no app or monitering or filtering ALONE can ever work %100 the only way in my opinion to really deal with it fully is through education we must teach boys and girls alike the dangers involved without whitewashing anything gone are the days when certain subjects and conversations were taboo PARENTS being the only people a child can really trust must teach their children while they are still young before they get introduced to these things by the internet just as… Read more »
It’s easy to get around most…
i am wondering if the children of the staff and administration also be subjected to these new rules?
Everything in life has been modernized, whether for good or bad, by science and technology, and it will become more and more so. Name one Jewish tradition or concept that hasn’t been touched (or tainted) upon by modern day recent inventions and ideas. The old style Yiddishkeit is for the olduns and nostalgics, who can still remember it enough to observe it like it used to be. The rest will just have to dream on.
The problem isn’t that children arent sheltered enough, its that they are TOO sheltered. When children are raised with an understanding of the dangers of the world and are actually TRUSTED by their parents and schools, their chances of staying on the derech and out if trouble are much higher then those who are sheltered their whole lives and are only taught about the religious world. Every child will eventually be exposed to things (whether at the age of 15 or 25) and when it comes to making the decision on whether to try drugs, or to see what its… Read more »
JUST STOP USE ALTOGETHER! THE INTERNET IS A tool for work not for children. BUT IF YOU COULDNT CARE LESS ABOUT your children. GO AHEAD AND SPIRITUALLY KILL THEM with unfiltered. Children should have zero acess to internet. Rebono shel Olam why are we sacrificing our children!?!?
A filter is only a first step. Education is key. Parents and teachers being role models. If parents themselves put a filter on their phones, the kids will see it as the norm. And at least for future students, they will see a filter as normal. And any kid can hack a filter.
If i were to tell you my exact grade and age, you probably wouldn’t look at my comment, therefor i will not. What some people don’t understand is how much we go through as students. Every day we have at least 2 hours of homework, we have tests and quizzes daily and are stressed to the point where me and some of my friends are depressed and even some dangerous things cross our mind- but thats not my point. My point is that there is one thing, that helps us forget our troubles, and although it may sound juvenile yes,… Read more »
A filter is only a first step. Education is key. Parents and teachers being role models. If parents themselves put a filter on their phones, the kids will see it as the norm. And at least for future students, they will see a filter as normal. And any kid can hack a filter.
wont help at all. if someone wants to see something they’ll find it no matter what. What they told us in school is the filter prevents getting hacked… and each girl and their parents chooses what will be allowed and what will be blocked.. to #11… yes 6 is correct. no she is not proud all shes saying is FILTERS DO NOT HELP. shes proud she overcame her problem WITHOUT THE NEED FOR FILTERS. getting a filter is fine (like k9) to prevent certain things. but completely blockign the phone to only allow text and whatsapp… no way. Also… about… Read more »
I never said I’m proud, if u think that then I think you shld learn a thing or two about teenagers. Remember the innocent girls can fall into whatever ur saying by other things not only the Internet. Their friends at skwl, etc. All I am saying is if a girl is watching movies and listening to non Jewish music she will find a way. With or without a block. I think it should be a parents choice to block the phone or maybe a different solution. And alcohol and weed is a Very different example. All I am saying… Read more »
Please respond a little more respectfully, I don’t think your tone helps.
They are not kids they are teenagers, this generation knows more about technology then most adults
I don’t believe you have the right to assume such a strong opinion in this matter if you are not a teenager yourself. Please don’t judge unless you were given the test yourself.
As for the “life and death situation” with alchohol and weed, that is taking things a bit too far. The average teenager will never do such things unless they have a driving force behind them causing them to rebel- such as schools snatching away any bit of privacy they had.
Why are you so sure of yourselves? You are just adolescents, not adults. Thats why youvstill need parental guidance and schooling. And #6, are you really proud that you are a teenage girl who has seen and heard things that shall not be mentioned? Have you already been so tainted by the filth that you think it is good? And have you no feelings for the innocent girls who have so far not fallen into the swill, that you want them to stumblem onto the filth like you did? We need to protect ourselves and our children from treif food,… Read more »
I know many people are writing that it’s a bad idea, but I want to add a comment of my own. I know first hand how bad of an idea this is. I am a teenager myslef with zero restrictions on my phone. I have an open relationship with my parents who trust me. Yes, I may see things I don’t want to see but I don’t want to loose my parents trust, so I don’t do things they wouldn’t approve of. I have a friend whose phone is completely blocked besides for WhatsApp, email, and texting. Instead of watching… Read more »
Whats a smartphone?
This is a misleading headline
The school is not screening any student’s phone
The privacy of the student is protected
The school does not want nor is interested in checking students’ phones
It is up to the parents and TAG to establish parameters and install filters
The schools role is to be assured by TAG that parameters
Are established
I agree 100%. I would never demand to see my kids phones. If I trust them there is no need. If I don’t trust them it’s a waste of time. The generation raised w smartphone technology has already outpaced their parents in this technology
I am a teenage girl who has seen and heard things that shall not be mentioned. If Bais Rivkah thinks they can all of a sudden have all their girls stop seeing, hearing, talking etc. YOU ARE WRONG. Only recently have I come to stop all I have done but it wasn’t thru having a filter or my parents. This filter is a Terrible idea if you think for even a second that it will help let me tell you something. My school put a filter on my phone me and my friends got around it by the ipods, tablets… Read more »
I would prefer they focus on improving the quality of he education. Fighting technology is a losing battle. Ebro if they were able to force girls to have limited internet access phones there are innumerable other points of access.
Technology awareness group (tag)
Torah avodah gimeluis chasadim (tag)…
Bye from the shpy
We have had this for already a year and a half.
These girls have enough to deal with at school without their administrators knowing what their doing on their phones. That should be between the parents and their children. I disagree with this and think it’s an abominable disrespect of privacy for these teenage girls.
and before you accuse me of being frei, I would be happy to submit my own phone for screening, but I would resent being forced. School is not a totalitarian government.
Parents , teachers please put down your phones and look at our children!!!