Gambling and Hugging
Two podcasts you won't want to miss
Over the past two days, I’ve released two podcasts about two important topics. The first, an episode of The Orthodox Conundrum Podcast, discusses the disturbing trend of increased gambling in the United States in general, and among Orthodox adolescents in particular. My guest, Dr. Rivka Schwartz, offers data-based analysis of what’s going on, why it’s dangerous, and how we need to find better ways of articulating why gambling culture is problematic.
The second, from Intimate Judaism, is a conversation that my cohost Talli Rosenbaum and I had with Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig about the place of leniency in the Jewish laws surrounding intimacy. Rav Yoni asserts that while following halacha (Jewish law) can be difficult, it should not cause harm; and in the cases where harm may result - perhaps because of war, or mental health concerns, or relational distress - we need to discover which leniencies are possible in any given situation.
Please listen to these podcasts, share them, and let me know what you think. (Links to both are copied below.)
I enjoyed the podcast with Dr. Schwartz on gambling - I had no idea it was such an issue in America broadly and in the MO community in particular. Lots of very interesting points to think about, and I'm curious to see what the Machon Siach will come up with to explain the values issues with gambling.
One point in particular stood out - the argument that if a person habituates themselves to the high of gambling, they lose the ability to enjoy regular, "no-stakes" parts of life and will find themselves drawn to gambling more and more just for the excitement that it generates. While not the same, I've seen parallel arguments about overuse of incentives for activities that are meant to be intrinsically motivated - for example, davening and learning (see https://home.ubalt.edu/ntygmitc/642/Articles%20syllabus/Deci%20Koestner%20Ryan%20meta%20IM%20psy%20bull%2099.pdf for a meta-analysis of studies on the topic).
The thinking goes that it becomes more and more difficult to see the intrinsic value in something when in the past a person has been "paid" to do it with an incentive program. Practically, while incentive programs can generate compliance during the program, it can actually undermine long-term intrinsic motivation once the program is finished. (Of course, the stakes are lower, as no one is getting addicted to incentives).