Some Cuckoo took a Kindle to Adoration

[basenji]

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

 

[HCC]

There must be a way to turn the sound off, no? Perhaps you could very nicely mention to him/her that you don’t mean to be rude but the clicking is a little bit distracting. And ask if there is a way to turn the sound off.

I use my iphone at church sometimes, for rosary meditations online or to reference certain prayers. I think people assume I’m checking my email or texting.

 

[Melchior_1]

I use my iphone at church sometimes, for rosary meditations online or to reference certain prayers. I think people assume I’m checking my email or texting.

My wife does this too. She also has several theology texts and Bible translations on her iPod touch. It does look pretty funny, but it is an excellent devotional tool. And it means she doesn’t need to lug around 4-987yu789-3 books.

I agree, just ask the person if they could turn the sound off

 

[StevenFrancis]

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

I take my Kindle with me into the sanctuary nearly everytime I go. I like to read scripture, and that’s where I keep my seven or eight bibles that I carry with me all day long for reference, inspiration, study etc. I don’t know if mine is defective or anything, but it never made any sound at all. In fact, I was thinking it was less distracting for people because there is no actual paper page turning, or unfolding of some of the prayers I used to carry on paper. No one has ever complained. I also use it when reading scripture in the worship space before mass.

I mean no disrespect to the Lord and any of his fellow followers in the body of Christ with my kindle. It’s just how I read. I can change the print size. It doesn’t emit light, and make no sound, (unless I turn on the outloud reading feature).

Anyway, I hope I’m not bothering anyone. Maybe it was a different device?

Bless you,

Steven

 

[bona_fides_1]

uh oh - i just blind ordered a kindle and just assuming that this sort of thing is all user tailorable and optionable. There of course is no reason to have an noise at all in a page change since its all electronic…

BF

 

[PatriceA]

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

Lesson learned, but I did smile at you at admitting you were the actual culprit. I do wonder though if there isn’t a feature to turn off the “click” in your settings. I don’t have a Kindle, but there is such a feature to audio a “click” on my ipod, I would think all types of these kind of devices have that feature.

 

[CountrySinger]

I use my ipod touch (with the sound turned off) before Mass and in Adoration. It saves having to carry a rosary, a bible, Christian Prayer, etc on the bus. And if someone asks me about it, I show them what I’m doing. And if they still have a problem, then it is there beef.

Now if I could only use it during Mass, to skip the horrible parts, like when the priest asks for money, or when the choir sings.

 

[Brenda_V]

This just made me laugh. I don’t respond often here anymore but I had to let you know you made my day! I have a Kindle on order (it is supposed to ship soon!) and it helped me to remember to check how to turn any sounds off!

I used a Palm Pilot years ago in adoration for praying the Rosary, it had an “app” for a scriptural Rosary that was so cool but I hadn’t figured out how to turn the sound off yet and got someone angry enough at me to walk up to me and comment (I suppose it looked and sounded like I was playing some game) - hand held games were just becoming really popular too. I learned to turn the sound off after that.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I think people are not readeing this post fully. See the bolded emphasis in the quote.

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…**and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the **kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

The user who worte this post was the person with the kindle making the noise.

 

[MissMichal]

BWAHAHA This is awesome. I watched a lady scroll through her Blackberry during Mass the other day. I was about to get snippy when I realized that A) She was following the readings on it, B) That’s a pretty cool idea, and C) I have a smartphone too. I punched it up for my fiance, who is new to the whole Mass thing. Better than the ratty books we have in the pews…

 

[LilyM]

Hmm. I’m not against these sort of devices per se, but I do feel the technology is a little too new and may cause too much scandal to be safely employed in Mass or communal Adoration.

You can’t and shouldn’t expect that everyone will be as tech-aware as you guys.

Nor that someone who is affected by what you’re doing (or what they think you’re doing) will necessarily comment on it to you. Most won’t, so you won’t often actually get the chance to set them straight.

Example - impressionable youngsters may watch you - and you’re bound to cause some of them to think ‘that person’s using their gizmo in church, great, means I can play games/listen to music/check emails too’. Not that they’ll breathe a word of it to you, of course.

 

[Friar_David_O.Carm]

I don’t think that the use of technology in this manner is a true case of causing scandal.

 

[bona_fides_1]

I don’t think that the use of technology in this manner is a true case of causing scandal.

Really Br. David? I disagree. It’s just a reading device - a book in smaller format and higher convenience. If the page turn sound option is turned off then its nothing more intrusive than someone bringing a spiritual booklet into the adoration chapel. Entire multi-volume translations of the bible or liturgy of the hours and liturgical calendars and saints of the day devotionals can be downloaded. It’s a wonderful device. You can have 10’s of thousands of books at your fingertips at any moment - a complete library - all the Early Church Father writings etc.

I am all for them and can see that they might be even the way of the future to replace mass missals and song books since new versions of material can be downloaded in a few minutes to everyone. No more missing pages or people marking up missals with pens/pencils and no more dog eared pages and wrinkled/folded pages etc.

BF

 

[CDNowak]

Really Br. David? I disagree.

I believe Br David was disagreeing with Lily M, therefore you agree with him (as do I, particularly w/ regard to the readers as opposed to the multifunction devices).

 

[dixieagle]

Really Br. David? I disagree. It’s just a reading device - a book in smaller format and higher convenience. If the page turn sound option is turned off then its nothing more intrusive than someone bringing a spiritual booklet into the adoration chapel. Entire multi-volume translations of the bible or liturgy of the hours and liturgical calendars and saints of the day devotionals can be downloaded. It’s a wonderful device. You can have 10’s of thousands of books at your fingertips at any moment - a complete library - all the Early Church Father writings etc.

I am all for them and can see that they might be even the way of the future to replace mass missals and song books since new versions of material can be downloaded in a few minutes to everyone. No more missing pages or people marking up missals with pens/pencils and no more dog eared pages and wrinkled/folded pages etc.

BF

I think that you and Brother are actually agreeing, if you read his post carefully.

My dh has an iPad and uses it for all kinds of reading, including religious material. This type of technology will become more and more commonplace, and before long no one will think twice about it.

As for kids playing electronic games in church, that’s the responsibility of the parents, and is hardly cause for someone who is using technology respectfully to enhance their worship to give it up.

 

[beckers]

Acutally i own a kindle and the clicking sound you may not be able to turn off. Its the sound the button makes when you hit it. I don’t think its too distracting as long as you are aware of it so you don’t hit the button so hard. just lightly tap.

I do use in adoration because it is much easier to read my books then carrying my them in with me in a big bag and then having to search through and make even more noise.

I do know that they have made an iphone app for the lectionary so that priest can use it on their ipads. It makes sense because sometimes when priest go places they don’t have the most updated books and are never without it.

I wish my phone had the divine office application so that i could carry my office with me during school.

 

[Apryl]

There must be a way to turn the sound off, no? Perhaps you could very nicely mention to him/her that you don’t mean to be rude but the clicking is a little bit distracting. And ask if there is a way to turn the sound off.

I use my iphone at church sometimes, for rosary meditations online or to reference certain prayers. I think people assume I’m checking my email or texting.

This is a perplexing issue.

Ok. So I may be using my handheld device for something very useful… even ‘pius’ and it’s a good thing. But then, someone else is sitting there and they are NOT doing that.

Today, we had a visitor in the church. This was actually between the Masses, but he was sitting in the pew, alone, with a hand held in his hand. I wouldn’t have noticed him but I was at the opposite end of the pew, talking with others, and his RADIO was blaring. I walked to him and said, ‘you can’t play that in here’. He put the hand held in his hand down, and grabbed his OTHER device and turned off (or at least down) that second device.

There have been others who were in Mass texting and chatting… but still others who used their device as a recorder or a camera.

Some are looking up a phone number, for themselves or others, and yet some one else can be using the device to look up a scripture or some other reference.

What my decision has been is to NOT use my hand held in church, esp during Mass, since it may give the appearance to others that there is something inappropriate going on.

With the Kindle, sure, if you know how to turn the sound off, I think it would be hard for someone to think the Kindle is being used for something other than reading, and reading is an appropriate action during Adoration. But the sound can be distracting to others.

I love modern technology, but Lawdy, it’s really messing us up.

 

[puzzleannie]

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

I love my Ignatius pocket size bible with leather cover and zipper, which I got expressly for my chapel bag, but the zipper makes such a sound in the quiet chapel I had to go back to my old bible. One of my fellow oblates has his bible, and downloads of loth, daily readings etc. on his hand-held device and gets a lot of glares when he uses it in church, and was even reprimanded by the DRE who thought he was texting or playing music–and he is older than I am.

 

[Luger]

For anyone considering taking a Kindle to Eucharistic Adoration, please keep in mind how loud that kuh-CLICK! is every time the user turns to the next page. During the quiet and solemn hush of my Holy Hour last night I kept finding myself being horribly distracted by that incessant and repetitive sound…and it was I who was the cuckoo doing the kuh-CLICKING!

Too bad there isn’t a smiley for :egg on my face:

Peace, prayers and smiles.

It’s quite wonderful when one develops the ability with God’s grace to ignore such annoyances. Pray on it and ask for the grace to be able to ignore such things as you focus on Him. It will help you at adoration and at other places as well. Millions of people no doubt adore God in the Most Blessed Sacrament under far more difficult and distracting conditions.

 

[bona_fides_1]

It’s funny how the norms develop. When one sees a person open a book and read in mass or adoration it is taken as a solem thing in general. But if somone opens what is clearly a magazine or non-religious book (a kid’s coloring book often seen) its seen as frivolous and it becomes a put off - its not solemn looking. I bet that we could improve this perception thing by purchasing the black leather cover for the kindle so that when one opens it it LOOKS more like a book. I just purchased mine with the leather cover - its all back ordered since they are always sold out from high popularity. I will get mine in a few weeks and use the PC kindle application to read e-books for now. I am betting that the black leather cover will really give it more of an acceptable look if I elect to use it in church.

Some smart marketers will eventually figure out these issues. There is a HUGE potential market in church groups (and college text books too!) etc. They could easily develop slide over “skins” or covers that appeal to different cultural settings. For church users they could have a slip over classic black with maybe a gold colored cross at the top to make it clear its not a toy or for frivolous use. There could be covers or skins for colleges that give it the school colors/mascot etc. to make it clear that it was a college curriculum text book library predominantly.

There is a perception or image problem. It’s just a shame that the cell phones and various electronic hand-held devices all got game applications and were put into the hands of kids and teens so early during the cultural introduction. That kind of preempted the cultural development and the social look-n-feel. At first they were too “geeky” but now its gone the other way - they are too toyish and techie cultish. The cultural mystique was lost or never materialized. Books are acceptable in church because they are culturally seen as more sophisticated. In the middle ages few could read or write except the educated religious. Books became associated with wisdom and knowledge and even religion. Cultural development is complex.

I suspect that Kindles and other reading electronic pads/devices will become quite common and accepted in church and adoration over the next 3-5 years.

BF