Standing in Two Worlds with Doctor Sam Juni -Episode 26-Left in our own devices-Mental Health might depend on restricting use of virtual media

Smart-phone addiction, time wallowing video games, trolling in chatrooms, obsessive twitter checking, these are all part of the new normal.Doctor Juni reminds us that the toll on personality, relationships, and mental health has been significant. Rabbi Kivelevitz responds that electronic devices and platforms have been lifelines to many during the Covid Pandemic. The discussants then begin an examination of key aspects of the connection between immersion in electronic communication devices and problematic mental health. Kivelevitz notes that gadgets have fostered psychological alienation by eliminating direct human conversation and interactions. Juni stresses that the devices also enable many to communicate and form relationships which they were developmentally or psychologically unable to do in a direct mode. Repeating complaints that have been voiced by many social commentators, the co-hosts illustrate how cyber gadgets have usurped thoughtful human pastimes (such as real discussions or reading a book),and by forcing persons to be constantly "on" these electronic appendages have eliminated opportunities for actual self-reflection.The Doctor and the Rabbi underscore how these media have served as equalizers of all "friendships" to a shallow common denominator. A healthy converse of this lamentable situation, where disconnect provides growth of character, is highlighted, Kivelevitz asserts, in the arc of development trod by the Tom Hanks protagonist in Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away .Kivelevitz further points out that Israel has the world's highest per-capita cell phone use, suggesting that this phenomenon is a cause of severe problems in the Jewish world. The addiction to virtual connectivity has spawned particular problems for the traditional way of observing Shabbas. Kivelevitz recounts the ubiquitous texting that goes on among youngsters who consider themselves Modern- Orthodox, with Juni confirming that this has spread into the Haredi and Chasidic worlds. The Doctor states that refraining from using their phones on Shabbas is close to impossible for many youngsters and adults in our communities. Kivelevitz wonders whether some Halachic accommodation may be vital to keep many self-identified religiously observant people in the fold, likening such accommodations to those allowing the Orthodox to walk the streets on Shabbas despite the triggering of surveillance cameras, and encouraging the constructions of Eruvin in major metropolitan areas which enable families to leave their homes, despite the severity of laws violated whichan unprejudiced reading of the sources would yield.Both agree that “there is no going back from here", just as sociologists assure us that distanced relationships will stay the norm even after the Covid pandemic eases. Doctor Samuel Juniis one of the foremost research psychologists in the world today.He has published groundbreaking original research in seventy different peer reviewed journals, and is cited continuously with respect by colleagues and experts in the field who have built on his theories and observations.Samuel Juni studied inYeshivas Chaim Berlinunder Rav Yitzchack Hutner, and in Yeshiva University as aTalmidof Rav Joseph Dov Soloveitchick.ProfessorJuni is a prominent member of theAssociation of Orthodox Jewish Scientists, and has regularly presented addresses to captivated audiences.Associated with NYU since 1979,Juni has served as Director of MA and PhD programs, all the while heading teams engaged in important research.Professor Juni's scholarship on aberrant behavior across the cultural, ethnic, and religious spectrum is founded onpsychometric methodologyand based on a psycho-dynamicpsychopathologyperspective.He is arguably the preeminent expert inDifferential Diagnostics, with each of his myriad studiesentailing parallel efforts in theory construction and empirical data collection from normative and clinical populations.Professor Juni created and directed NYU's Graduate Program in Tel Aviv titledCross-Cultural Group Dynamics in Stressful Environments.Based inYerushalayim, he collaborates with Israeli academic and mental health specialists in the study of dissonant factors and tensions in the Arab-Israeli conflict and those within the Orthodox Jewish community, while exploring personality challenges of second-generation Holocaust survivors.Below is a partial list of the journalsto which Professor Juni has contributed over 120 articles.Many are available on lineJournal of Forensic PsychologyJournal of Aggression, Maltreatment, and Trauma.International Review of VictimologyThe Journal of Nervous and Mental DiseaseInternational Forum of PsychoanalysisJournal of Personality AssessmentJournal of Abnormal PsychologyJournal of Psychoanalytic AnthropologyPsychophysiologyPsychology and Human DevelopmentJournal of Sex ResearchJournal of Psychology and JudaismContemporary Family TherapyAmerican Journal on AddictionsJournal of Criminal PsychologyMental Health, Religion & CultureAs Rosh Beis Medrash, Rabbi Avraham Kivelevitz serves asRavandPosekfor the morningminyanat IDT.Hundreds of listeners around the globe look forward to his weeklyShiurinTshuvos and Poskim.Rav Kivelevitz is aMaggid ShiurforDirshu Internationalin Talmud and Halacha as well as a Dayan with theBeth Din of America.Please leave us a review or email us at [email protected] more information on this podcast visityeshivaofnewark.jewishpodcasts.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. 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