Phones OFF

Phones OFF in church, please.

Q: But shouldn't people be allowed to use their phones as they see fit?

A: Of course people can use their phones as they like. But I think it's respectful towards God when you give him your full attention during that one hour, instead of having your mind always on your phone. Besides, having your phone flash all the colors of the rainbow while blaring out the latest trashy dance track when someone is calling is really distracting to other people as well.

Q: Well, what if a call is important?

A: How many important phone calls might occur in that one hour, hm? Besides, isn't God more important than that RM100,000,000 contract call you're waiting for? After all, he's the one giving it to you. He can always take it away even if you answer the call. And if it really is important (awaiting news of an ill/injured family member etc), kindly take the phone OUT of the church before you start talking. Whatever your reasons, it's still damn rude to talk on the phone in the church during Mass or Service.

Q: You said that the ringtone/colors may be distracting to others. Why not just leave the phone on silent mode instead of turning it off completely?

A: Some phones vibrate hard enough to cause earthquakes on silent mode. Besides, you'd probably take the phone out of your pocket, and it'd light up when you use it. People are bound to look.

Q: That's their problem then, no?

A: Thing is, even if you aren't distracting others, you certainly won't be concentrating yourself. Whipping out your phone every few seconds to reply text messages or going out of the church to answer a call every now and then can contribute to your lack of concentration.

Q: Can't you opt to just ignore calls and messages?

A: How many people can do that? Even if you don't see what your phone's bothering you about, your mind would still be thinking about it, wondering if it was your friend who just asked you out to supper, or a family member calling to tell you they won the lottery, or whether your house just got demolished in a mistake etc. You'd still be thinking about those things, wondering about 10000 things that probably have not happened.

Q: Even if your phone is off, you'd still be wondering.

A: If your aren't paying any attention to the Mass at all, then yes. Otherwise, no. Surely you won't be as distracted as when your phone vibrates in your pocket every few minutes.

Q: So isn't it better to just take that call instead of letting it remain on your mind?

A: Look, it isn't really that hard to drop the damn phone from your mind completely for one hour.

Just. One. Hour. For that one week.

In that one hour, let your mind be with God. Give the Guy some thought man. He's had to pull you out of all those potholes you kept falling into throughout the week, and you can't even devote one hour's worth of your attention and love to him?

Even if it's two hours, is that really hard?

Forget the calls. Forget the messages. Messages, you can read after Mass/Service. Trust in God that those calls you missed aren't very important either. At least if your phone was off, you wouldn't be tearing yourself up over missing an important call afterward. Cause you couldn't have known, right?

Q: The mind will wander anyway, won't it?

A: The mind will always wander. It's how it's built. Thing is, you don't need something extra like your phone to help it do that.

Besides, I doubt your phone will ascend to heaven (or descend to hell) along with you.

*************************************************************************************

I don't really know why I wrote the above. I guess it's just one of the few things I believe in passionately.

The things I said were mostly lessons from my father. I myself never leave my phone on during Mass. I switch it off before I even enter the church, and only turn it on after Mass. I'm not a hypocrite. This is an example my parents have set for me, and damn good an example they are.

I've seen a lot of people in church who can barely let go of their phones. They spend almost 80% of their time texting, playing games, or even listening to music. Some don't even have the decency to leave their phones on silent modes, even after a call or two has upset the church's quiet atmosphere at solemn times.

And not all of them are even young people. Some are people who should have known better.

Besides, have respect for the priest too la. He didn't just dress up in those robes (which can make him feel warmer than being in a sauna), prepare a sermon and miss his dinner to come to celebrate Mass with you and end up listening to your crappy little phone make some noise and seeing you scramble out of the church to take a call that's, more often that not, unimportant.

So, please, phones off. It's an act of discipline. It's an act of respect.