It’s the text, stupid! Mobile phones, religious communities, and the silent threat of text messages

Abstract

This study explores the Jewish ultra-Orthodox “kosher cellphone,” a device that can be used only for voice calls. It asks why the leadership of this highly textual community didn’t stop at blocking Internet use over the kosher cellphone and went on to block texting messages as well. Using both interviews with ultra-Orthodox anti-cellphone-activists and content analysis of online discussions among community members, the study analyzes the perception of threat that underlies the prohibition of texting, and explores how this prohibition is received in the community. The findings show that in contrast to the threat posed by improper content, which affects the external boundaries of this enclave community, blocking texting stems from a perception that the technology’s configuration threatens intra-communal monitoring and the control of the dissemination of information within the communal space. Our findings add a number of dimensions to the current understanding of the nexus of new media, social control, and isolated religious communities.

Self-perceived substance and behavioral addictions among Jewish Israeli adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Ultra-Orthodox adolescents were less likely than secular adolescents to identify themselves as having an addiction to social networks. In ultra-Orthodox society, geographically concentrated in certain dense residential neighborhoods, children and adolescents are educated in institutions that are under constant supervision, and the experience of mobility and social networking is very limited ( Rosenberg, Blondheim, & Katz, 2019 ).…”

OMG, R U OK? Therapeutic Relationships between Caregivers and Youth at Risk on Social Media

“…Studies should also examine the perspectives of the youth themselves and compare them with those of their caregivers. There is also a need to examine potential confounding factors that might impact the online therapeutic relationships, such as gender differences (Noguti, Singh, & Waller, 2019), generational differences ( Hargittai, 2010 ), cultural contexts ( Mesch & Talmud, 2008 ), and religious contexts ( Rosenberg, Blondheim, & Katz, 2019 ). These factors might affect the very legitimacy of the online relationship.…”

The (other) two percent also matter: The construction of mobile phone refusers

“…Existing studies of media abstinence have explored a variety of perspectives: psychological (e.g., Pierce, 2009), sociological (Kline, 2003; Ribak & Rosenthal, 2015), religious (Neriya-Ben Shahar, 2017; Rosenberg et al, 2019), educational (Buckingham, 2000), and familial (Silverstone, 2006). These studies and others have also focused on various communication technologies, such as television (Krcmar, 2009; Mittell, 2000), landline telephone (Ribak & Rosenthal, 2006; Zimmerman-Umble, 1996), new media and ICT in general (Selwyn, 2003; Woodstock, 2014), Internet (Wyatt et al, 2002; Wyatt, 2003), and social networks (Brubaker et al, 2016; Neves et al, 2015; Portwood-Stacer, 2013; Schoenebeck, 2014), as well as specific content abstention practices, like news (Woodstock, 2013).…”

“…It seems that the “hyperconnectivity” (Brubaker, 2020) experience relates not only to using the medium but to the very act of carrying it on the user’s body (Axelsson, 2010). In the spirit of the Toronto school of thought (Shifman & Blondheim, 2007), these experiences arise from the medium’s physical characteristics, the “three Ps” (Ito, 2005; Rosenberg et al, 2019): its being portable , the device’s prosthetic dimension (expressed in its proximity to the human body), and the medium’s personal nature. Research on the implications of mobile connectivity on the user have looked at both the benefits (e.g., Bittman et al, 2009; Ling, 2004) and the tensions it creates in various daily spaces (e.g., I.…”

“…Surprisingly, however, scarcely any studies examine mobile phone abstention. Those that do so focus on smartphones and users who reject or restrict this medium and prefer an old (third-) generation cellphone (e.g., Ribak & Rosenthal, 2015; Rosenberg et al, 2019; Neriya-Ben Shahar, 2019). While choosing to own a Dumbphone over a Smartphone is in and of itself a form of media resistance, it is not the same as choosing not to own any mobile phone device at all.…”