Would you confront a teen who's texting during Mass?

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randomuser said:
Why isn’t “Yes, even if his parents were around” an option?

Yes, I would. Of course, being a single (not with family), I do run the risk of being accused of you-know-what if I were to do so.
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Yeah. I noticed that I didn’t make that an option.

My bad!
 
After mass casually mention, that it doesn’t count if you don’t pay attention,
During mass, it doesn’t count for YOU if you aren’t paying attention either!
 
We deal with this all the time. When we catechize the teens and we’re about to go into the sanctuary we have them hold up their phone…high in the air, and say:

"THIS DEVICE DOESN NOT CONTROL MY LIFE".

You’d be astounded how many teens never think of it this way.
And for the record, our music ministry has been known to check the big game scores during the homily, so it’s not just kids.
😦
 
I only read and post responses on the Catholic Answers Forum during Mass.

I make sure I’m not looking at secular stuff like Facebook, except during the collection.

:angel1:
 
I would be very careful here. I use my phone to pray and even check the time as needed.
 
SuperLuigi said:
I would be very careful here. I use my phone to pray and even check the time as needed.
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I am certain that this teen was not using his phone to pray.

As I have already stated, I, too use my phone to pray, so it’s not the using the phone to pray that’s objectionable.
 
speters33w said:
I only read and post responses on the Catholic Answers Forum during Mass.

I make sure I’m not looking at secular stuff like Facebook, except during the collection.

:angel1:
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Putting an emoticon on a post like this might be helpful.
 
PRmerger said:
So it was a crowded Mass. A 15-ish yr old boy is sitting in front of me, next to his oblivious father.

During the Mass the boy would take his phone out of his pocket surreptitiously, glance at it, put the phone back in his pocket and attempt to blind-text. Presumably.

Over and over.

Not obtrusively. And not rebelliously/in-your-face

But enough that it was a distraction.

After a mental debate (“this could go really badly”), the next time he got his phone out I leaned over the pew and whispered, “Could you not do that please?”

And he had enough grace to look embarrassed, and put the phone away until he left Mass.

What would you have done?
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I would mind my own business. He may have been doing something that needed to be done. My insulin pump looks like an. IPhone and I will sometimes have to look at it and if anyone says anything I will give a look that says that you better not say anything again same goes for when I have to check my blood sugar in the pew. Our parish priests are totally behind me when it comes to this issue.
 
Hello.

Couldn’t vote because I needed a separate category for a plain “yes”. I’d correct this person, gently, whether or not the parents were there.
 
thequeen said:
I would mind my own business. He may have been doing something that needed to be done. My insulin pump looks like an. IPhone and I will sometimes have to look at it and if anyone says anything I will give a look that says that you better not say anything again same goes for when I have to check my blood sugar in the pew. Our parish priests are totally behind me when it comes to this issue.
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I know what an insulin pump looks like. Please.

Let’s just say this: IF there is a teenager who is texting on his phone, would you confront him.

Not giving himself insulin.
Not using it for prayer (as if!).
Not following the readings at Mass (which are, BTW, available in a little thing called a book that’s right in front of him).
 
PRmerger said:
I know what an insulin pump looks like. Please.

Let’s just say this: IF there is a teenager who is texting on his phone, would you confront him.

Not giving himself insulin.
Not using it for prayer (as if!).
Not following the readings at Mass (which are, BTW, available in a little thing called a book that’s right in front of him).
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If said before on these boards there are those who take charity to an extreme for fear of being judgemental. Sometimes common sense is lost. Based on some postings here there are people that would see a man running at them pointing a gun and firing and they would say maybe the person was trying to give you a gun for free. 🤷

One need only spend an hour with a group of teens to know what secretive texting from a pocket looks like.
 
Hoosier_Daddy said:
If said before on these boards there are those who take charity to an extreme for fear of being judgemental. Sometimes common sense is lost. Based on some postings here there are people that would see a man running at them pointing a gun and firing and they would say maybe the person was trying to give you a gun for free. 🤷
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Egg-ZACTLY!

Great example 👍

There’s giving someone the benefit of the doubt, and then there’s just being ridiculous.
One need only spend an hour with a group of teens to know what secretive texting from a pocket looks like.
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Normally, it’s not something that even draws my attention. If it were something that were causing enough noise so that I could not pay attention, then that would be a different story, but I normally find that to occur with “chatty” adults.
pianistclare said:
And for the record, our music ministry has been known to check the big game scores during the homily, so it’s not just kids.
😦
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That reminds me of this clip from the Simpsons:

youtube.com/watch?v=XpP_crkJ01c
SuperLuigi said:
I would be very careful here. I use my phone to pray and even check the time as needed.
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I guess checking the time is legitimate if it’s Communion time and you want to make sure you are not violating the fasting rules.
 
PRmerger said:
Not following the readings at Mass (which are, BTW, available in a little thing called a book that’s right in front of him).
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I have to admit, sometimes when I attend a Mass in Polish, there are not enough missalettes for everyone, so I downloaded one that was avalable on the internet to my phone “just in case”.
 
Norseman82 said:
I have to admit, sometimes when I attend a Mass in Polish, there are not enough missalettes for everyone, so I downloaded one that was avalable on the internet to my phone “just in case”.
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This was in my parish church where there are plenty of missals.

There was a missal in front of him, should he have needed to follow along.
 
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