I am not haredi...but this is an interesting article that makes you think.

Of Yuppies and Haredim
   by Jonathan Rosenberg - Jerusalem Post 02/98

     Futurologists are by nature an optimistic group; they . . assume that 
technological advance is inevitably correlated to an increase in human 
happiness. Oz Almog, whose crystal ball gazing was featured in the 
Jerusalem Post Magazine two weeks ago, is no exception. He celebrates 
Israel as an up-and-coming yuppie society, increasingly indistinguishable 
from America.
     (His daughters, Almog proudly informs us, prefer the Spice Girls to 
Arik Einstein, and for some reason he finds that particularly comforting.)
     No doubt Almog's excitement over the Americanization of Israel will 
seem misplaced to those who grew up thinking of the Jewish people 
as a "light unto the nations" - rather than as a pale moon reflecting the 
American sun. Others will be surprised at his presentation of American 
popular culture, hitherto thought to represent the nadir of vacuity, as 
the apotheosis of the Hegelian Idea in history.
     Almog envisions a society based on maximizing the individual's ability 
to pursue pleasure according to his own lights. Such a society will not 
be valueless, he argues. No, it will be humanistic and devoutly secular, 
freeing one and all from any transcendent vision of the purpose of life.
     Indeed, it would appear that Almog's utopia has already arrived in 
some quarters. Not everyone,  however, is as sanguine as he about its
advent.
     Haifa University researchers Orit Eshbal and Ella Alexacder recently 
published a study of Israeli youth magazines, as part of a profile on the 
future of Israeli society. They chose Kulanu, a secular magazine, for 
comparison to two value-laden youth magazines serving the religious 
community.
     Despite the left-wing politics of Kulanu's editors, the only values 
Eshbal and Alexander found touted in the magazine were materialism,
affluence, and the latest fashions.
     Like the kids at whom it is aimed, the magazine focuses exclusively
on the present moment, golden youth. Its world is without past or
future; everyone is young, and parents or other grown-ups are
blessedly absent. Israel, Jewish history, and religion, even current
events are barely mentioned.
     Ha'aretz summarized the researchers' findings: "Competitiveness
 is glorified, prying is encouraged, television is venerated. And the 
main message: Anything goes." Bring on the California Dream.
     Almog saves his best news for last. As more haredim work and 
possess computers and the Internet, they too will prove unable to 
resist the blandishments of secular society. Phew! No rough stuff will
be necessary to deal with the black scrouge. We need only infect
haredim with the Internet, like the Conquistodores infected Native
Americans with smallpox. Kill them with kindness.
     SUCH predictions give futurology a well-deserved reputation 
as academic astrology. Like Jeanne Dixon and other astrologers, 
Almog relies on the fact that no one will remember his predictions 
in a few years. Almog's forecast is based on two fallacies common 
to much secular comment on haredim. First, he imagines an 
unvariegated haredi society extrapolated from Mea She'arim. 
Many, if not most, haredim - even in Mea She'arim already possess 
computers, and their society is not tottering as a consequence. 
Far from being the death of haredi society, employment in 
computer-related fields in America has been the salvation for 
hard-pressed families, whose tuition bills alone often reach 
$30,000 a year or more.
     Jews have lived according to the Torah in every imaginable 
form of human society - at once participating in that society and 
remaining aloof from it. Flourishing haredi life in America 
demonstrates that they will continue to do so even in the modern, 
acquisitive society.
     Like most of his secular contemporaries, Almog has no inside
knowledge of Jewish religious life. From his outsider's vantage 
point, he cannot help imagine haredim sitting glum-faced around
the Shabbat table, with nothing to do, only because they are 
unaware of the beckoning beach. Clueless about the intellectual 
and spiritual richness of Torah study and a Torah life, he cannot 
understand how haredi society continues to attract and absorb
so many with the finest of secular educations. Seeing only the 
relative material deprivation of haredi society, he assumes that if 
haredim only knew of all the good things money can buy, the 
urge would prove irresistible. 
     Why this great need to insist that only ignorance keeps haredim
 from being as materialistic as the next person? Because haredim 
are ruining the game for everyone else. Every game loses its 
attraction if bystanders look on in boredom and show no interest 
in playing. They force the participants to wonder why they are 
taking the game so seriously themselves.
     Haredim have refused to accept the basic assumption of 
yuppie culture: Success or failure in life is measured by the 
accumulation of toys. It is not their poverty that ultimately grates 
so much, but their refusal to be miserable about it. They are hated 
because they refuse to admit that they are life's losers.
     By foregoing so much of what others consider necessities, 
Torah Jews raise the niggling suspicion that neither material 
acquisition nor sensual pleasure provide life's greatest joy.
     And if there is one thing that no yuppie can tolerate, it is the
fear that someone is having more fun than he is.