This is the thirty-seventh installment of West Wind, your daily drop of thoughts, ideas, and info for this Season. The wind is currently blowing in the direction of technology and media. Check out other posts at the link.
The internet is a scary and dangerous place. The whole world is dangerous to a degree, but the internet is a special kind of dangerous. Similar to how you don’t need to raise awareness about people spending too much time on their phones, as they already know that very well, you don’t need to go around telling people that the internet is full of awful things that you can stumble upon without even meaning to.
As an adult, I regularly run across objectionable content even within the small bubble of the internet that I usually stick to. I can judge and discern quickly, though, and practice safe browsing habits to minimize the damage. Children, however, don’t have these skills, and can’t be expected to have them until much later in life. Until, it’s too late…
Our kids don’t have smartphones. I don’t even have one. All of the devices we have that can connect to the internet are locked with passwords, and the tablets they use for homeschool/school at home have restricted modes that only let them access certain apps. The devices we have that don’t connect to the internet are not as restricted, but they don’t need to be.
For home gaming, we have a PS2 and a Wii, both of which used to have internet connectivity, but the systems and servers they used have long since been shut down, which renders them both effectively safe. For gaming on the go, we have a retro handheld that runs mostly emulated games but also a surprising amount of modern games too. It doesn’t have a Wifi chip, so they can only play what we give them and nothing else.
Each child also has their own MP3 player, with their favorite albums and soundtracks from the master collection. These aren’t internet connected either, and another important feature they lack is a radio tuner. Believe it or not, AM/FM radio is still around, and the music they air these days is definitely not something I want my kids listening to. It was quite the trick to find these devices, though, and they’ve both had to be replaced a couple of times because kids.
MP3 players are less popular than ever because of the way people consume media now (see yesterday), but they’re starting to make a comeback, due in no small part to the Jewish community. TAG International is an organization that “…stands at the forefront in the battle of the nisayon of technology.” As far as I can tell, nisayon is a Hebrew word that can be taken to mean trial, test, or temptation. That’s definitely what technology is in this day and age, and it’s heartening to see that people are taking it seriously and working to ensure that safe technology is available for our kids, and for ourselves. Most of the retro handhelds coming out now are basically Android phones with controllers attached, having Wifi and Bluetooth and all the things. A few are still out there with no connectivity, but imagine if TAG pushed the manufacturers to release devices with no Wifi or removable Wifi chips (that actually work)1. That would be a thing.
If you’re interested in getting a safe music device for yourself or your kids, you can find many of them at B&H Photo Video, which is a Jewish-run business in New York City. There’s no referral link in there, I just want to spread the word. Though your order will be delayed for Jewish holidays. Just awesome.
This is a fun story. Before I found the line of Anbernic handheld gaming devices that have no Wifi connectivity, I tried an experiment with a Nintendo 3DS. I learned through repair manuals that the Wifi chip was removable from the mainboard, so I bought one used and opened it up, did some surgery and took out the chip. I had my copy of Animal Crossing: New Leaf: Welcome Amiibo (ACNLWA) ready to go, but after booting it back up… nothing happened. I was able to get to the home screen but not launch a game, either one of the digital demos or the game on the card. I tried several different tricks to get around it, but ultimately was unsuccessful. So, I sold the 3DS and got an RG350.