Wednesday, September 11, 2013
What is the place for technology in church meetings? Tablets and smartphones are increasingly replacing paper resources such as lesson manuals and the scriptures, but many people don’t limit themselves to these kinds of activities. While playing angry birds on a muted tablet or smartphone is an improvement over a loud ringtone in sacrament meeting, it can still be a distraction. In spite of this potential distraction, the church seems to be supporting this transition by providing wireless internet in meetinghouses. The idea of surfing the web at church would have made a younger version of me laugh, but before long the idea of not having this technology will seem just as preposterous. However, I think the advantages of this transition will only be worth it to the degree that people use it in ways that are appropriate for a worship centered setting.
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This is a problem outside of church as well. There is a very valid reason Dr. K asks that we actually experience the class without phone, tablet, or laptop. It's the same reason Prof. Rodham asks us to not "worship the laptop". We are loosing our ability to experience things as they happen. We need to be here now.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a case of "If you can't beat them, join them." Technology is taking over and is not inherently evil, so the Church doesn't oppose it. Especially because enforcing a no-smartphone policy in church would require Nazi-like action.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. While wireless access points in the church are really helpful for lessons, leaders, etc., they are a big distraction. Maybe we need to turn the sacrament room into a big Faraday Cage, so people at least can't use their devices during sacrament :)
ReplyDeleteIt's super irritating when someone next to you is playing games when you are trying to n stay focused in a lesson. I have asked people to go outside before in that situation, they didn't seem very pleased. Contrary to this I have seen people making notes and cross referencing with the church website in class. I think this comes back to the discussion in class about whether you would give up all the good due to all the bad. I think that in order for any organization to move forward technology must be embraced.
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