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{"id":1061,"date":"2014-10-07T09:30:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T13:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2014-10-07T09:09:19","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T13:09:19","slug":"1061","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davidmills\/2014\/10\/1061\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sabbath & the Cell Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It\u2019s a device that lets you be un-Sattathian on the Sabbath. At least that\u2019s what I think,<\/span> as does Eliyahu Fink<\/a>, writing in the\u00a0Forward<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

To me, it\u2019s real simple. No one would have thought of the Shabbos App or the need for the Shabbos App if people were enjoying the break from technology that Shabbat affords. If we all loved being off our phones for 25 hours, the Shabbos App would be superfluous. No one would want it. No one would care to have it. But that is not the reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many people struggle with observing Shabbat every week. The phone is a private and quiet way to escape Shabbat observance. That\u2019s one the many allures of the smartphone. It\u2019s like holding the universe in your hands, and if someone is feeling stifled by Shabbat observance, the world in one\u2019s hands can feel quite liberating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fink\u2019s answer is to \u201ccraft Shabbat experiences that are meaningful to American Orthodox Jews\u201d and his suggestions I commend, because Catholics face the same challenge, made even more difficult because we\u2019ve lost any idea of our Sundays as a Sabbath, a day of rest, recreation, and leisure. (For the meaning of the last, see<\/span> Father James Schall\u2019s introduction<\/a> to Josef Pieper\u2019s Leisure, the Basis of Culture<\/em>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Also of interest in Fink\u2019s take on the place of these devices in our lives. They\u2019re \u00a0not addictions, as people so often say, he notes. but a habit and not necessarily a bad habit. This is why we have such trouble not using them all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Smartphones have become like appendages to our bodies. They accompany us to the kitchen for recipes and culinary inspiration. They come with us to the dinner table and can be used to research a point of discussion at the table or to share a YouTube video that gives everyone a good laugh. They are part of our Torah study routine, with the entire Torah available at the tap of a finger. Calling us addicts completely mischaracterizes the challenge. Our devices are like auxiliary brains. They are part of everything we do during the week.<\/p>\n

Critics of the technology treat them as addictions and the user as someone who\u2019s essentially distracting himself from the world he\u2019s supposed to be engaged with, and there\u2019s obvious truth to that. But they\u2019re also useful things that aid our engagement with the world, and that makes giving them up even harder. Which in some ways makes a Sabbatarian retreat from their use even more useful.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"