Electronic device etiquette at church?

[aebrown]

Perhaps they will release me.

I'm sure they will. But not before your time!

[russellhltn]

So that means when stake conferences are broadcast to other chapels, it is against policy?

No, to continue the quote, it says "(see 18.3.1 for an exception)". Section 18.3.1 is "Stake Conference", which contains "If necessary, conference sessions may be broadcast to other locations in the stake."

What if they would have just left their cell phone on for the entire funeral? Do you see that as broadcasting by any other means?

I guess it falls to your interpretation of "broadcasting". Some might say that sending it to a single person fails the definition of "broad". So is "narrowcasting" allowed or is it against the spirit of the Handbook?

Personally, I'd be concerned about the Pandora's box effect. If you allow one person to listen, why can't the next person send it to 10 or 50 friends and relatives? I think it's easier to say no up front and be consistent then to try and find the point where "narrow" becomes "broad".

[TinMan]

Personally, I'd be concerned about the Pandora's box effect. If you allow one person to listen, why can't the next person send it to 10 or 50 friends and relatives?

For me, I was more concerned about the grandmother confined to a rest home in another country that was unable to attend the funeral of the grandson she helped raise.

But that was just me.

I will take my lumps. But thanks.

[gregwanderson]

This topic was discussed in this thread which started about a year and a half ago. Given the momentum and usefulness of apps like Gospel Library and LDS Tools, it's sad and a little disturbing to read that certain local leaders had attempted to ban electronic devices in their wards and stakes as recently as January 2012. Indeed, the newest version of the LDS Standard Works is currently only available in an electronic form!

I was a bit of a pioneer in my ward 9 years ago when I ditched my paper scriptures and started bringing a Pocket PC to Sunday meetings. I'm not sure what others thought I was doing at first but they quickly learned that as I was looking at my handheld device I was fully following the discussion and, in many cases, was doing more with footnotes and cross-references than anyone else was. Today, I'm always carrying an iPad to church and at least half our quorum uses smart phones to follow along. There really is no need to make rules about device etiquette in our ward. People use them. They work. If anything, it enhances the lessons rather than creating a distraction.

As far as the other topic of this thread... it's common practice around here for funeral directors to set up their own recorders to make audio recordings of funerals in chapels. They usually attach their own microphone to the one on the podium rather than use the jack that was hard-wired into the sound system for the express purpose of recording what goes through the PA system. While these things aren't supposed to be live-streamed, it seems that you could easily record the audio (which is not strictly prohibited) and send that audio file to someone via the Internet within moments after the funeral takes place (which, again, is not strictly prohibited... but it certainly approaches the same result as a "broadcast" without actually being "live"). And, of course, to the listener in a far-off place and another time zone, the experience of listening to the "podcast" or the "broadcast" may seem identical.

[PeterWoodman]

Broadcasting over the internet is not really the same as just transmitting to one person or maybe several people who are connected by Skype. It seems to me that at a funeral it would be completely appropriate to have family members who live in other parts of the World be able to particate.

[Mikerowaved]

Broadcasting over the internet is not really the same as just transmitting to one person or maybe several people who are connected by Skype. It seems to me that at a funeral it would be completely appropriate to have family members who live in other parts of the World be able to particate.

Please refer to post #5 of this thread. It's pretty clear.