Earlier in the year, I saw started to see persons standing, looking at their phones during the Gospel reading at St. Matthew's. After the first astonishment, it occurred to me that they were probably following the reading, from an app or a website that gives the readings of the day. Now, I think that the official view is that one should listen rather than read during Mass. However, there can be bad acoustics, soft or heavily accented voices, leaf-blowers or other machinery outside, and other reasons one can't follow by ear. And the Worship (hymnal plus missal) in the pews gives the text of the readings for Sundays, feasts, and holy days only. (In any case, it weighs a good deal more than a mobile phone.) So, odd though it looks, I can understand why someone would do this.
Today I chanced to see someone kneeling in a pew and and looking at her phone. The text was far too small to be read from my distance, but there was at least one illuminated capital. Apparently some in fact do their devotional reading on the phone.
A modern addition to Don't judge a book by its cover might need to be Don't judge a reader by the medium they are using or Don't judge a screen user until you know what they have on their screen
ReplyDeleteThat is a hard rule for those of us who are naturally censorious and who find it hard to read anything at arm's length. But this afternoon on the bus I did stand peering at the CNN headlines on somebody's phone....
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