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jews in the digital age

The Social Media Conundrum

I

recently binge-
watched CNN’s
three documenta-
ries on Netflix, which
focus on the three final
decades of the 20th
century. Watching
Rabbi Jason
“The Seventies,” “The
Miller
Eighties” and “The
Nineties,” I was left
thinking about how CNN would char-
acterize the current decade. No doubt,
our love-hate relationship with social
media would be a principal highlight.
As an early adopter of social media
and an active user, I find the love-hate
relationship that people have with
social networks intriguing. The people
who condemn social media as an evil
that has plagued our way of life are the
same people who scroll through their
Facebook feed before they fall asleep
at night and while eating breakfast
in the morning. There are aspects of
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, et al., that
we despise, and there are aspects that
we have embraced and don’t know how
we managed without. This social media
conundrum is fascinating to me, and
I have been curious as to how we can
view it through a Jewish lens.
Jewish people are less than 0.2 per-
cent of the world population, and yet
most of the people who’ve led us into
the social media universe are Jewish.
Sergei Brin and Larry Page founded
Google, which opened the door to
Mark Zuckerberg creating Facebook
and Noah Glass joining his friends to
launch Twitter.
Zuckerberg was an atheist who has
embraced his Judaism more since
becoming a father to two daughters. His
public posts about celebrating Shabbat
and Jewish holidays with his family
have led some to question whether core
Jewish ethics are at odds with the way
Facebook is run as a company and how
this social network has created harmful
outcomes in our culture.
In its almost 15 years in existence,
Facebook has been blamed for an
increase in teenage depression and
suicide rates, altering a presidential elec-
tion, giving racists and anti-Semites a
platform to spew their hate, disseminat-
ing false news reports and suppressing
actual news, ruining millions of friend-
ships and Russian intervention of our
political process.

Marla Canvasser, Cheryl Kerwin, Mark
Canvasser (at back), Debbie Canvasser
and Eric Canvasser

Longtime Runner Marks
14th Marathon

There’s no doubt that Zuckerberg,
along with Facebook Chief Operating
Officer Sheryl Sandberg, has been in
the hot seat for the past few years. Both
are strong proponents of free speech
and believe in core Jewish ethics. Have
those two mantras come into conflict at
Facebook?
How can the Jewish community see
the light amidst the darkness in social
media? While Facebook, under the
leadership of Zuckerberg and Sandberg,
has pledged to correct the harmful
aspects of the network, they have largely
failed. But should they be held respon-
sible?
If there’s one thing that Judaism has
taught us over the millennia, it is that
there are shades of gray in everything.
The social network that Zuckerberg
created has a lot of positive aspects to
offer us as a civilization. It has helped us
communicate with people around the
world and find ways to bring us closer
together. Facebook allows us to keep in
touch with long lost friends, wish each
other birthday and anniversary greet-
ings as well as offer condolences on the
death of a loved one, view photos and
videos of our family at life’s celebrations,
and engage in respectful dialogue over
the issues that matter most to us.
Sadly, Facebook and other social net-
works have also aided those who perpe-
trate evil. Social media has a dark side
as we know all too well. It has amplified
the voices of those who hate and threat-
en our democracy. It has given a much
louder voice to bullies who damage our
wellbeing and sanity. However, social
media hasn’t created anything new. It
has just brought more of that darkness
into the mainstream.

We must recognize that social media,
whether in the form of Facebook and
Twitter or something else down the
road that will replace those networks,
is now part of our world. It is up to us
to use these tools for good and to shut
out the evil that tries to enter through
our internet connections. Ultimately, we
must remind ourselves that social media
engagement will never replace real-life
human interaction.
In a recent New York Times piece,
Bari Weiss wrote that it seems “the
organizations and the people who get
the most attention are destructive. On
social media, this isn’t just speculation.
Outrage and negativity are the most
‘engaging,’ and so that’s what we’re fed.
The disciplined among us — and I’m
hoping to get there — might get off
these platforms entirely. One thing we
all can do is make the effort to engage
in real life.”
I don’t believe quitting social media
activity cold turkey is the solution to
what plagues our society. I think we
must seek out the positive outcomes
that exist in our experiences on social
networks like Facebook while working
to collectively shut out the darkness that
has been so pervasive.
While Zuckerberg might have cre-
ated this game-changing network, he
shouldn’t be fully blamed for where it
has taken our society. We must show
responsibility and direct social media
toward the light — overwhelming the
evil with good. That is the Jewish
ethic. ■

Rabbi Jason Miller is president of Access
Technology in West Bloomfield. Follow him at
facebook.com/rabbijasonmiller and on Twitter at
@RabbiJason.

Marla Canvasser competed in the
Detroit Free Press/Chemical Bank
Marathon’s International Half-
Marathon event for the 14th time
on Oct. 21. Marla, 58, of West
Bloomfield, says she loves being
part of such a large athletic event
in Detroit. “Crossing the bridge
into Canada and the tunnel back to
Detroit is a really unique experience,”
she says. Marla, a health science
teacher in Oakland Schools, was
joined by her husband, Mark, 58,
a fellow marathon enthusiast who
has also done Iron Man and triath-
lon competitions, and other family
members. The couple are members of
Temple Beth El.
This was the 41st year of the mar-
athon and more than 25,000 runners
from 48 states and 19 countries gath-
ered in Detroit to take part in a week-
end packed with races. New this year
was a competitive 1-mile race, along
with the new Motor City Challenge
Series, where runners could take part
in more than one event. ■

High School Judaics
Course for College Credit

Friendship Circle has partnered
with CTeen U for a 16-week course
in Jewish studies for 11th and 12th
graders taught by Rabbi Yarden
Blumstein and earning college
credit, starting in January.
CTeen U is a joint initiative of
Yeshiva University and the Chabad
Teen Network. The two-credit
course, a $2,000 value, costs $1,499
and runs from Jan. 16-May 1. For
more information, call (248) 788-
7878 or email saradaniels@
friendshipcircle.org. ■

jn

December 27 • 2018

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