Cell phones at church

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JimG said:
I always turn off my cellphone before going into church, because I don’t want it ringing in church or in the confessional. (I hope the priest has his turned off as well, less my confession be stored in the cloud.)
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Eh, most modern cell phones have a silent mode.
BoomerangToo said:
People are addicted to their phones. It’s like they’ve grown a new appendage. The last time I was in a restaurant, every single person sitting in the waiting area was sitting there, chin on chest, silently staring at their phone. I really mean Every. Single. Person. And that waiting area was packed. It was very weird and sad, in my opinion.
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Meh - before cell phones I remember a lot of waiting places staring at the wall thinking I was bored, or idly flipping through magazines on cosmetic products I didn’t care about and pretty gardens owned by people with way more time and money. I certainly wasn’t being social.
 
Completely agree with this. Sorry to everyone else but I feel you asked a perfectly appropriate question.

There is a loss of respect for the house of God and playing games on cell phones, texting and laughing is an inappropriate action while waiting in line for confession. It shows disrespect for the house of God and others who are wanting quiet so they can concentrate on the sacrament. Prior to confession, we should be in contemplation, in hopes of having a good confession.

I would also assume that if there are quite a few people in line, then there are those sittinging in the pews trying to complete their sacrament by doing their penance and the laughing, texting, whispering, and game playing are disrespectful to others.
 
Until you get the person, (which happened to me recently in the Church) who doesn’t turn the clicking noise off his cell phone, so when he texts you constantly hear click, click, click…
 
DarkLight said:
Eh, most modern cell phones have a silent mode.
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To be fair, I think he was referring to microphone permissions, which means your phone can be “listening” to you even when you aren’t actively using it. It sounds paranoid, but how else is Google or Alexa or Siri going to be able to hear your key phrase, unless it’s listening all the time?
 
Ok yes that is kind of creepy. I think I may turn my cell phone off in the confessional next time. (Well, next time I have one - right now mine has turned itself into an 80 dollar brick.)
 
We can’t judge the person but we can discern if an action is right or wrong.
 
MagdalenaRita said:
We can’t judge the person but we can discern if an action is right or wrong.
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You can’t discern what a person is doing on their phone unless it is either making distracting noise or you’re looking over their shoulder to see what’s on it. You have no idea if a person “texting” is making a list of his sins, texting his parent or child a necessary communication, or just goofing off.

The point is, we need to butt out of other people’s business when it’s not affecting us.
 
I like to bring a spiritual book usually on Mary, it helps me calm down while I wait. I try to write down my sins beforehand so I can have it prepared. It also makes confessing much easier since I can read it out instead of trying to say it on the spot. I can get kind of scrupulous if I miss something, so this helps out a lot.
 
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My manager at work has informed us that he’s going to be answering the phone any time it rings for the next while. His wife is expecting any day now, so he’s waiting for the news that he needs to go to the hospital.
 
Right, we also never know when someone has an ill family member or some other emergency going on. I know people whose jobs expect them to be “on call” for emergency situations and they have to check the phone. Before cell phones, they used to have pagers for the same reason.
 
Agree, we don’t know what people are doing. True, but as I said in another comment, sometimes it can be bothering. Recently before Mass started a man was on his phone texting and did not have the sound turned off of his keys, so while the whole Church is quiet and trying to pray before Mass we all heard click, click, click with every key.

And yes, I realize that many people use their phones for prayers and that is great, I do too, but many times phones in Church can be a distraction. Just remember while on your phone to be respectful to those trying to pray. During the Sacrament of Penance people can already be nervous and are trying to concentrate on God’s mercy.

Rather than just ignoring people or butting out, we could consider saying a quick prayer asking that it doesn’t bother us and ask God to guide them also, if they are showing disrespect in the Church.

I also, think that there is a problem if we are so bored for a little 10 minutes while in line for confession and can’t spend that few minutes contemplating where we are and what we are doing. If praying fine, but if just bored and need something to do…?
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Right, we also never know when someone has an ill family member or some other emergency going on. I know people whose jobs expect them to be “on call” for emergency situations and they have to check the phone. Before cell phones, they used to have pagers for the same reason.
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We have a family member who is an ER doctor. There are times he is on call all weekend, and in order to even go to Mass he has to have his phone with him. People’s lives are literally on the line should he ignore that phone for even an hour. I have seen him have to grab at his phone and dart out of Mass (he sits in the back) and it usually means someone is on the edge of death. He has every reason to not go to Mass on his on-call weekends, yet he chooses to anyway. I think Jesus sees that more favorably than people who poke their noses into other people’s business re: cell phone use.
 
Perhaps everyone needs one of these:
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That person is the exception, not the rule. I doubt all those people in the line of confession were ER doctors. I, also work part time for a doctors office and know that many times they can just disappear for a short time. Granted they are not ED doctors and may not be in line at confession but we have learned sometimes we just have to wait.

Having a cell phone on you while in the confessional is also different than being on a cell phone while in the confessional line.
 
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That’s true, the exception is usually used a rule in other things too.
 
I pray for anybody who bothers me (including people on CAF, on the street, elsewhere).

I do not consider other people’s church behavior to be “disrespectful” unless it is really something extreme.

Here’s a list of behavior that at some point has been called out on here as “disrespectful” at Mass:
  • Using a cell phone, even if for a religious purpose, and even with the sound turned off
  • Having one’s phone tone go off accidentally during the Mass
  • Wearing shorts or a sundress to Mass, even if it is 90 degrees and the church lacks decent air condiioning
  • Receiving Holy Communion in the hand
  • Receiving Holy Communion without kneeling
  • Praying out loud, even if you whisper or keep your voice very low
  • Chewing the Host before you swallow
  • Women not wearing a veil
  • Women wearing a veil (on the basis that it calls attention to themselves)
  • Men wearing a ball cap
  • Any person eating or drinking anything, even if the person is a toddler, or a diabetic, or elderly etc.
  • Not bowing before you receive Holy Communion
  • Not bowing at certain points when the name of God is mentioned during the Mass
  • Holding your hands in the Orans position because it is reserved to the priest
  • Not holding your hands in the Orans position because you’re supposed to do things uniform with the rest of the congregation
  • Shaking hands with your neighbor at Sign of Peace because it’s a distraction from the Mass
  • Not shaking hands with your neighbor at sign of Peace because you’re expected to do so and you appear unfriendly and give a bad impression
Etc

Maybe people who are so worried about all this should take a score card into Mass so they can look out for violations, make hash marks and report to the Pastor.
 
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