Ten years ago when I returned from Europe, I looked forward to a return to a land populated by people who didn't feel it necessary to always have their cell phones. Now, the rising generation seems unable to go without them and unable to do anything that is not funneled directly through them. I have previously had a problem with students in class who were there in body only, because they were texting, emailing, or streaming video with people distal to them in space and in time.
You must be present to win they tell you. Well, that's not what I see at church, and maybe that's why people have church but not religion and dogma instead of faith. My sister tells me that even at church in Utah, the pew directly in front of her last Sunday was full of people busily typing at their IPhones in lieu of paying attention to the meeting. Yesterday, I discovered that two youths had played "Resident Evil" in church instead of paying attention. Months ago, my sister and I went to an early morning seminary course where some of the students thought it was ok to not have their scriptures with them. How do you learn about books you can't read? If you're not present at church, you cannot benefit from it. Furthermore, attendance at some of these meetings is required for certain privileges in the Faith. If you are not paying attention, did you attend the meeting?
The students take these things for granted. Many of them do not pay for the subscription service, and others got iPod Touches so they could access free WiFi. People 'find' these things, which means they didn't pay for them, and I am reminded of Thomas Paine who said "That which obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly." Cell phones are now accepted as a 'necessity' rather than a luxury. When I tell people I consider dispensing with mine, they wonder how I can survive and how I will communicate. Well, I guess you'll just have to talk to me in person.
The youth only play games on them because the applications are free. Heaven forbid the devil starts giving away everything he does as freeware or subscription free access. When they can do it just because it's free, how many of our youth will do it for that reason alone? That's how they used to get kids hooked to drugs- the first few times it was free, and then once they addicted you they forced you to pay to get your fix. When I told them I preferred to have the actual book in front of me than look up an excerpt via an application, they said I live 'back in the stone age'. Sure, you can use boolian operators to find search strings, but if you know the book well, you don't need those and can often navigate more quickly than a search engine can arrive at the precise quote you need. Plus, heaven forbid you have to use multiple e-versions of books concurrently...
I try to respect the purpose of the meetings I attend. I leave my cell phone at home during church and turn it off in class so the students can see. When I am there, I am there. People can wait three hours to talk to me. Shoot, it used to take two weeks to exchange letters back and forth in Austria, and I survived. I do not think that cell phones have any place during church. You will not see Jeffrey R Holland checking text messages during a fireside even though he has a blackberry. Maybe some people who are on call need them, but the teenagers and young adults, to be quite frank, are not that important, and it's very likely that anything they have going on can wait a few hours for discussion.
Not that we need a policy forbidding them. Let them govern themselves. I will continue to leave mine at home and turned off.
You must be present to win they tell you. Well, that's not what I see at church, and maybe that's why people have church but not religion and dogma instead of faith. My sister tells me that even at church in Utah, the pew directly in front of her last Sunday was full of people busily typing at their IPhones in lieu of paying attention to the meeting. Yesterday, I discovered that two youths had played "Resident Evil" in church instead of paying attention. Months ago, my sister and I went to an early morning seminary course where some of the students thought it was ok to not have their scriptures with them. How do you learn about books you can't read? If you're not present at church, you cannot benefit from it. Furthermore, attendance at some of these meetings is required for certain privileges in the Faith. If you are not paying attention, did you attend the meeting?
The students take these things for granted. Many of them do not pay for the subscription service, and others got iPod Touches so they could access free WiFi. People 'find' these things, which means they didn't pay for them, and I am reminded of Thomas Paine who said "That which obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly." Cell phones are now accepted as a 'necessity' rather than a luxury. When I tell people I consider dispensing with mine, they wonder how I can survive and how I will communicate. Well, I guess you'll just have to talk to me in person.
The youth only play games on them because the applications are free. Heaven forbid the devil starts giving away everything he does as freeware or subscription free access. When they can do it just because it's free, how many of our youth will do it for that reason alone? That's how they used to get kids hooked to drugs- the first few times it was free, and then once they addicted you they forced you to pay to get your fix. When I told them I preferred to have the actual book in front of me than look up an excerpt via an application, they said I live 'back in the stone age'. Sure, you can use boolian operators to find search strings, but if you know the book well, you don't need those and can often navigate more quickly than a search engine can arrive at the precise quote you need. Plus, heaven forbid you have to use multiple e-versions of books concurrently...
I try to respect the purpose of the meetings I attend. I leave my cell phone at home during church and turn it off in class so the students can see. When I am there, I am there. People can wait three hours to talk to me. Shoot, it used to take two weeks to exchange letters back and forth in Austria, and I survived. I do not think that cell phones have any place during church. You will not see Jeffrey R Holland checking text messages during a fireside even though he has a blackberry. Maybe some people who are on call need them, but the teenagers and young adults, to be quite frank, are not that important, and it's very likely that anything they have going on can wait a few hours for discussion.
Not that we need a policy forbidding them. Let them govern themselves. I will continue to leave mine at home and turned off.
1 comment:
I'm with you 100%. I was a bit embarrassed yesterday because I forgot my scriptures - -so I pulled out my iphone and accessed them there (better than not having them, right?). But looking in front of me, there were several adults with their own phones out, Facebooking. Which mortified me, thinking someone might assume that's what I was doing as well. I won't forget the scriptures again. Great thoughts, well expressed as always.
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