Phones and tablets in worship- useful or a potential distraction
Puzzler
Shipmate
Some churches have their liturgies or orders of service online, tablets or phones being used by some ministers leading worship, and some congregations are being encouraged to bring their devices to church to save money on booklets or printed sheets of paper.
This happened in the church I attended today. A discussion afterwards led to some expressions of horror- where would this lead? Sending texts or doing crosswords during the sermon? Checking up on the preacher’s sources?
Useful or potential distraction?
This happened in the church I attended today. A discussion afterwards led to some expressions of horror- where would this lead? Sending texts or doing crosswords during the sermon? Checking up on the preacher’s sources?
Useful or potential distraction?
Comments
I try not to use my phone during worship except when I've got to look up a Bible passage. I'm afraid the people behind me will think I'm farting around when I shouldn't be, and get distracted. The good side of having it available for some of us is that we can set the text size large enough for those of us with poor vision. My church does have a large print bulletin, but many don't, and the phones can help.
But there is a school of thought that believes that scripture readings are to be proclaimed and listened to rather than followed visually.
We have no screens etc. The primary focus in an RC church should be the lectern where the Word is proclaimed and made present, and the altar where the Sacrament is celebrated. Screens would detract and become another focus.
So its hymn books for us.
"In a world increasingly being played out online, going to Church should be an immersion in cold water that wakes us out of sleep."
All the grandparents knew the service off by heart or had battered Kiswahili prayer books but the young people all followed the service on their phones!
Also the informality of a charismatic service and lack of tradition.
People can just as easily do puzzles and send notes to each other in the sermon without a phone. I can't be the only person who did this as a kid. And plenty of adults used pen and paper to write notes - they could have been drawing a caricature of the preacher for all I know! Plus it's also possible to be distracted/absorbed by your own thoughts and images inside your head. I was more in a world of my own before smartphones.
I miss the days of following Bible passages in my Bible, or a Bible on the pew. Though, maybe that's not a thing of the past, but more about what type of church one goes to. In those days, if I was bored in the sermon, I would flick through my Bible and read different things, or flick through the hymn book and memorise my favourite hymns.
I suspect in that case being able to follow the service may be the least of anyone worries. Though you could always take after Moses and use a tablet of stone...
A number of churches where I am now seem to print bulletins that include the full texts of the readings, as well as music and texts for the hymns. This can lead to bulletins for one service that are upwards of 20 pages long. I can’t help but think that’s environmentally problematic. Reading from tablets and phones can be a counter to that.
That said, I’m one of those people who thinks how we do things conveys messages about what we’re doing. Does reading the Scripture readings from a printed-off sheet of paper that will be thrown away or recycled after the service send a different message from reading the Scripture readings from a nicely-bound and clearly permanent book? What message is sent when we read from a small screen?
I don’t know that there are right or wrong answers. At the least, “right” or “wrong” may vary with context. But I think the questions are important.
I get a bit stressed about the paper used in our English service, but remind myself that a) we have visually impaired people who need it--phones won't do for some of them; and b) we re-use those as much as we can (two services). I also think of the elderly people we have who can't hold the weight of a hymnbook. That's really the primary reason for the paper, plus our music director's tendency to choose half the hymns from some place other than the hymnbooks we possess.
It's not rocket science, but it's not what this church does. It's a tiny church, the vicar is vicar of several churches, we have a different person preaching on different Sundays, and they each use different sources, and some of the songs are just played from YouTube - it could be tricky to coordinate. Though yes, that is what a lot of bigger churches do, and it would be handy if this one did.
Yes, that's what I have suggested and they're going to do for now, and so I will be using my phone in the service.
I was quite surprised at this because ... surprise, surprise ... some Orthodox bishops have issued edicts and structures against the use of readings from phones and other electronic devices.
The stated reason for this isn't, as one might expect, because we are Luddites - although that can apply - but on the grounds of legibility.
The argument runs that the eye can scan over texts on screens and miss things more easily than on paper. Some would argue otherwise, of course.
Without wishing to appear at all critical of settings like @Heavenlyannie's church, I'd certainly find that amount of tech distracting in a worship context.
But then I'd say the same about worship-bands and the like although I would have been comfortable with that 25 or 30 years ago.
I do know Orthodox priests who do use tech during sermons to some extent and they seem to use PowerPoint and so on the same as anyone else if speaking in a conference context or giving a lecture.
But I do find phones and screens distracting in a worship setting but that doesn't mean that should apply to anyone else.
There is a 'thing' within Orthodoxy where we aren't meant to sit in judgement on what anyone else does in worship - and I'm trying not to do so critical old git that I am ...
But it does bug me when I see people chatting or checking their phones when we are going forward to receive communion.
Is outrage!
I don't object to informal ways of 'doing communion' in settings where that feels appropriate or is part of the tradition.
Don't take this the wrong way, @Heavenlyannie but your church will have built up its own traditions over the last 30 years. As soon as we have a set format, and all churches have those, we have a tradition.
All churches have liturgies, whether they are formalised or more informal and apparently spontaneous.
That's just a fact of life and nothing to worry about.
Anyhow, it still amuses me whenever I attend a conference or ecumenical event where a Coptic or Orthodox monk looking like they've walked out of the 10th century will reach inside their cassock and come out with some smart piece of IT-kit like anyone else.
Shall I show myself out?
And yes @Caissa that is certainly also the case.
I'll start a new thread about distractions in our own necks of the woods and not other people's ...
Context is everything.
Yes, that thought occurred to me, too.
That is what my example is about. It will provide a more accessible alternative for me. And potentially others. Also one can adjust font size and type on one's device, which you can't on a paper copy.
Another usage I can think of: there are two women who are always whispering in the service, gossiping, and I find it rude and distracting. Since they clearly want to do this, and are going to do it, if they could text each other instead, that would provide them with an alternative that doesn't distract other people.
We have a few people who like to take copious notes during the sermon. They all use pens and notebooks, but I can certainly imagine they might have a fellow traveller who takes notes on a phone.
I think being distracted by your phone is to a reasonable extent a choice. You can put your phone in do-not-disturb mode so it won't show you notifications for incoming texts, or you can choose to ignore them. You can browse TikToks and play games, or you can choose to not do that.
(A long time ago, a group of colleagues and I used to while away the time in boring meetings doing the crossword in a skype group chat. Someone would scan in a copy of the Guardian cryptic crossword, and we'd solve it together.)
I find digital devices distracting and I don’t think they work well with the contemplative atmosphere our liturgy is trying to foster. That seems to be general consensus among those who attend the service though I’m sure others’ mileage may vary.
I suppose a related question is about how useful people find livestreams. I admit that I rarely watched our livestream during Covid - I felt our liturgy just really didn’t translate well into a livestream format. But we continue make a livestream available now and normally get at least a few people watching in real time - mostly now I suspect for reasons of geography more than epidemiology.
How would you encourage or 'enforce' them to text one another instead?
Our priest would tell them to shut up, not the most tactful or effective approach of course.
Who would tactfully take these two aside and suggest they text one another, even assuming that they are tech-savvy enough to do so?
Traditionally that's the province of the Church Wardens isn't it ? (Or similar figures).
I wouldn't. I was suggesting it here in a tongue-in-cheek way. It's not my role, they're a law unto themselves, and they have a bit of (well, a lot of!) a chip on their shoulder about the changes in the church, so they would get very vocally offended if any of the preachers said anything. I have considered turning round and looking pointedly at them, but I don't, because I think they are also quite vulnerable. They seem to see it that it's them against the church, and that no one cares about them, but I make an effort to chat to them, and they seem to see me as a friend.
Though if they decide they want the liturgy emailed to them, I might find a way to suggest in a friendly way they could text each other too if they want to chat. I'm not sure how tech savvy they are though - they are older, not very bright, and they may not even have smartphones.
I'd do it. It's not that hard to say, "Hey, I notice that you often have to communicate during the services, and I can see that it's making it hard for some other people to concentrate. How about using a text message the next time you've got something urgent you need to say to each other?"
There's no need to say "gossip" at all. Give them a charitable cover for what they've been doing so far, and suggest the alternative. Yes, they may start gossiping about YOU (or me), but at least they've been alerted that people are bothered by it.
At the risk of tangenting, I think it’s primarily a pastoral issue. With the wardens in a supporting role if necessary.
My wife is that way. She’ll sometime make note of specific phrases, points or ways of saying things that wants to remember. The bulletin with her notes may hang around for a week or so, during which she may look at it from time to time, then it goes in recycling.
I always take notes by hand during the sermon, partly to remind myself so that I can report on the "What was the sermon about today?" thread here. If it's been a particularly meaningful sermon for me I will transfer some of the thoughts into my current journal. If I'm not taking notes during a talk it is seldom a good sign. I remember a story told years ago by one Jeff Lucas - a name probably known to some here - of how he stood up to speak and someone in the front row was sitting with an open notebook and pen poised expectantly. Five minutes into the talk he capped his pen, put both it and the notebook away and sat with arms folded for the rest of the time. That made a strong statement and was pretty distracting!
I am, however, a compulsive note-taker and it simply comes naturally to me to write things down. I was always the one who took the minutes at work: I actually enjoyed doing it and no one else wanted the job.
Now we are in vacancy we are hearing many sermons of -ahem- dubious value, with the occasional goodie.
The late Mr Puzzler preached good sermons. Well prepared and scripted, but you wouldn’t necessarily have known that as, whilst not ad libbed, they appeared spontaneous. I didn’t manage to extract them from his laptop, but I still have paper copies. I don’t know what to do with them. But that is a tangent of a tangent, so to bring it back:
An online version of a sermon after it has been preached could be sent to those with tablets/ phones?
Again, slightly off the point!
He does, as you might expect, know a lot of the C of E Eucharistic liturgy by heart, but the Gospel reading (for example) sometimes moves at a slightly slower pace than might otherwise be the case IYSWIM.
I can't offhand recall whether or not he uses the tablet whilst preaching.
Our Place's previous priest used a tablet when reading Morning Prayer, which we held every weekday. We used the Franciscan Office, but the book does take a bit of handling, and required careful placing of ribbons before the service began - I think the tablet was simpler, and, in any case, this priest also had poor eyesight which found the smallish print hard to read.
I remember talking to a parish priest who in his curate days had a habit of taking notes of sermons he was hearing. He said he dropped the practice after one day when he had stopped taking notes at some point during the sermon and the preacher had taken it as a commentary on the quality of his sermon.
Interesting. I’m not sure what the copyright issue would be if the appropriate rights have been obtained for the music on the tablet or phone. Perhaps they don’t want to have to worry about whether that’s the case?
Do they similarly make clear that photocopied scores are not allowed?
Given modern technology, it might be interesting to ask what an AI-generated summary of your sermon recordings would look like.
Rev T puts his order of service and sermon notes on his iPad. Except when he's doing a wedding or a funeral. Then he uses paper. Just in case.
I take my Kindle to church as it's got my Bible on. I need the bigger print. The font in the our pew Bibles is too small and the large print Bibles are jealously hoarded by those who got there first.