Thinking Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I went to a missionary farewell yesterday and sat near the back. I noticed several teenagers texting during the meeting. Is texting during church meetings a problem in your ward?
Doctrine 612 Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 yes but it is not alot better when the bishops phone goes off durring the meeting as well
nicolasconnault Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Some youths have figured out that if they make phone calls in chapels, it will sometimes interfere with the sound system and make that horrible "Dududd-dah-dududd-dah-dududd-dah" sound through the speakers. They use to great effect during prayers and testimonies...
busybee Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I've experienced this too, and while I don't like it, I would much rather my 19yr old son was texting during church than less active, as he is. We need to pick our battles. As parents we have a responsibility to teach our teenagers that texting during church is'nt showing reverence. As they mature, they'll come to realise that what we have taught them is true.I can't help but wonder that if I'd done more teaching and less reprimanding my son would still be active. That's just my take on the situation.
Hamba Tuhan Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I sometimes TXT during sacrament meeting. I did it just yesterday. One of my diehard Young Men was missing, and I wanted to check on him and make sure he was OK. I like having this option.In addition, the Young Man sitting next to me in sacrament meeting was on his phone the entire time after the actual sacrament. He has a severe case of Aspergers and really struggles with the length of the meeting, but he spent the entire time typing the text from 'Master, the Tempest Is Raging' into this phone and uploading this to his Facebook account. I hope no one was watching him and assuming this was a problem. I'm proud of him for coming (he's the only active member in his family) and finding creative ways to be where the Lord would have him on a Sunday despite his disability.
Duncan Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Not that i've seen, very,very occasionally cell phones will go off. Once this guy got up to give a talk and someone's cell phone went off and it was the Imperial Death march song from Star Wars! hahaha!
nicolasconnault Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I sometimes TXT during sacrament meeting. I did it just yesterday. One of my diehard Young Men was missing, and I wanted to check on him and make sure he was OK. I like having this option.In addition, the Young Man sitting next to me in sacrament meeting was on his phone the entire time after the actual sacrament. He has a severe case of Aspergers and really struggles with the length of the meeting, but he spent the entire time typing the text from 'Master, the Tempest Is Raging' into this phone and uploading this to his Facebook account. I hope no one was watching him and assuming this was a problem. I'm proud of him for coming (he's the only active member in his family) and finding creative ways to be where the Lord would have him on a Sunday despite his disability.Awesome, thanks! I entirely agree with you on this point.
bluebell Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I haven't noticed anyone texting in my ward.My husband has his scriptures on his phone and reads off of it the sacrament and sometimes while people are talking. I always wonder if people assume that he is texting or surfing the web.
mercyngrace Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Texting During Sacrament Meeting Is it a problem in your ward?Yes. We get bad reception in the overflow.
jadams_4242 Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I went to a missionary farewell yesterday and sat near the back. I noticed several teenagers texting during the meeting. Is texting during church meetings a problem in your ward? little do they relize they are actually texting the spirit and telling him to stay away!
frankenstein Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 when the announcement was made during GC a fews ago about not texting, our Ward Exec Sec was busy texting away. That is how he keeps in touch with his inactive children. About a month ago, I needed to relay a message to my hometeaching companion about someone home teach, who is prone to run out the building after sacrement, so I text the campanion to the relevant info to ask the hometeachee.... time and place for everything,
Magyar Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 We who grew up in the old, sit on a pew, sing a somber hymn, 19th century paradigm of the church, need to realize that the world is changing. Obviously, the moral laws of God will never be outdated but new technology is altering the world and the way that people interact. The Church needs to stay on top of this seismic shift. We are losing youth, bleeding them away like a punctured artery, in part because we don't fully understand that. My niece can't even stand to listen to her favorite pop songs all the way through -- her favorites! -- she gets bored that fast. And this is the generation we expect to sit still for three hours? Kids would rather text than talk these days and Church is all about talk, talk, talk. They use smartboards and computers at school but in Church, we still write on chalkboards.We have the truth -- beautiful, cosmic truth. No good if no one is in the chapel to hear it.
ElderDarionBevan Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 don't text in sacrament meeting, there is no way you can reflect on the lord by texting
nicolasconnault Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 We who grew up in the old, sit on a pew, sing a somber hymn, 19th century paradigm of the church, need to realize that the world is changing. Obviously, the moral laws of God will never be outdated but new technology is altering the world and the way that people interact. The Church needs to stay on top of this seismic shift. We are losing youth, bleeding them away like a punctured artery, in part because we don't fully understand that. My niece can't even stand to listen to her favorite pop songs all the way through -- her favorites! -- she gets bored that fast. And this is the generation we expect to sit still for three hours? Kids would rather text than talk these days and Church is all about talk, talk, talk. They use smartboards and computers at school but in Church, we still write on chalkboards.We have the truth -- beautiful, cosmic truth. No good if no one is in the chapel to hear it.Computers, in the hands of the majority of teachers, are an awful teaching medium (in the classroom I mean). Not sure about smartboards, I haven't seen them put to good use yet. A chalk/white board however, can be a mighty teaching tool in the hands of a dedicated, skilled teacher. It's highly underrated.However, having personally contributed to the development of Moodle (an internet e-learning platform), I am a strong proponent of harnessing the youth's interest in computers by teaching them out-of-class as a supplement to sit-down classes. I also feel that sit-down-classes are often very poorly taught. Teaching quality in the Church, in my experience, is generally awful. Until church members (all of them!) understand the awesome potential that a good teacher has for changing lives, using recent technology will be useless in leading the youth to Christ.
Magyar Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 Computers, in the hands of the majority of teachers, are an awful teaching medium (in the classroom I mean). Not sure about smartboards, I haven't seen them put to good use yet. A chalk/white board however, can be a mighty teaching tool in the hands of a dedicated, skilled teacher. It's highly underrated.However, having personally contributed to the development of Moodle (an internet e-learning platform), I am a strong proponent of harnessing the youth's interest in computers by teaching them out-of-class as a supplement to sit-down classes. I also feel that sit-down-classes are often very poorly taught. Teaching quality in the Church, in my experience, is generally awful. Until church members (all of them!) understand the awesome potential that a good teacher has for changing lives, using recent technology will be useless in leading the youth to Christ.You have made a very good point. I agree.I would much rather get caught up in a poignant, Spirit-filled discussion to which we all contribute, losing track of time, than to be wowed by someone's dexterity with graphic design and Powerpoint. But that's me. I'm getting old. Older, at least. Quite honestly, I'm not sure that a generation that would rather text than talk is better off than its predecessors. I wonder what the world will be like even just 20 years from now, with change happening at such a pace. Can, and will, the Church adapt -- learn to work within a new paradigm that incorporates the latest technology without jettisoning the Spirit? Will some future Saint have the same full measure of the Spirit through a scripture text-fest that his grandfather got from a Priesthood meeting?Service groups of old such as the Freemasons and the Oddfellows are disappearing. Young people don't join such clubs and sit through clubhouse meetings. But they still help out in their communities, in new paradigms.
ELF1024 Posted January 24, 2011 Posted January 24, 2011 I actually looked up SeattleGhostWriter 's post in the Evangelical Grace Vs The Atonement discussion on the board during sacrament meeting yesterday, and handed my phone to my 16 year old to read. The speaker was putting him to sleep.I thought that SeattleGhostWriter's post was particularly good and uplifting.
ElderDarionBevan Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I don't thinking texting is appropriate in a sacrament setting, it defeats the whole spirit of worship. what is more worldy than a cell-phone?
sweetpotatoh Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I don't allow my children to bring their phones to church. If they did they would lose their phone privileges for a month. My children are under 18. If they were over 18 I would keep my mouth shut if I saw them texting in church.
nicolasconnault Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I don't thinking texting is appropriate in a sacrament setting, it defeats the whole spirit of worship. what is more worldy than a cell-phone?Well let's see... A game console? A dirty magazine? I mean, come on, a phone is not evil!
volgadon Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Well let's see... A game console? A dirty magazine? I mean, come on, a phone is not evil!A television? Oh, wait, we have those...
volgadon Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Not that i've seen, very,very occasionally cell phones will go off. Once this guy got up to give a talk and someone's cell phone went off and it was the Imperial Death march song from Star Wars! hahaha!Reminds me of a couple of stories. There was an activity in my wife's branch in Ukraine. One of the members was playing the piano. A few bars into one of the songs, and the missionaries walked into the room. Everyone burst out laughing. The song was "Gop Stop", about gopinki, Russian ruffians (and other sundry criminal types) of the early 20th century. "Gop stop, we walked up from around the corner..."The other story is about an African comvert in Russia. We were sitting with him at sacrament meeting, and just as the BP requested that phones be turned off, somebody rang our friend, and he instintively dropped the f bomb...
ELF1024 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 I don't thinking texting is appropriate in a sacrament setting, it defeats the whole spirit of worship. what is more worldy than a cell-phone?Like a telephone, or a computer, a cell-phone is not inhertantly evil or worldly. It depends on how you are using it.If your using it to play games, or text dirty jokes, or surf porn... then yet it would be very worldly...
sjdawg Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Texting is a byproduct of the real problem.........boring speakers
Doctrine 612 Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Texting is a byproduct of the real problem.........boring speakersI have asked them before to start a how to write and give a sacrament talk class but i had no takers..who here would go to this class if given the chance, also there might be a chance of you giving a talk in sacrament which might be one con.
Bob Crockett Posted January 25, 2011 Posted January 25, 2011 Texting during any meeting in which you are expected to participate as an auditor (school, business, church) and being seen doing it is gauche and rude. It is similar to having a bluetooth earpiece in your head while carrying on a conversation with somebody in front of you. It is similar to carrying on a loud personal phone call in a crowded airport.Although I don't like much speaking in church on occasion, like everybody else, I am required to so so and for a period of time while in a bishopric did it frequently. The same one or two guys would be texting the whole time. Not a great support or confidence builder.There certainly are no rules against it, but the practice is just one of courtesy and being respectful. I, like everybody else, am sometimes brought to tears with a boring sermon (a while back, the speaker mentioned five times his conversation with the executive secretary who called him to speak on short notice, and seven times about how he was running out of time) but I don't think it appropriate to retaliate by taking out my Iphone and checking sports scores or even reading the scriptures.
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