With a gathering: "Lift up your smart phones!" With an individual: "Hold out your smart phone!" (celebrant puts hands around it and around the hand of the owner of the phone)
"Let us take a moment of silence to be prayerfully mindful of the role this device plays in our lives..... (several seconds).... Source of needed information, means of communicating personally and professionally, platform for our education, provider of entertainment, and so much more. We are grateful for this marvel of human ingenuity, for connecting us as one human family around the globe as never before. And we take time now to be mindful of its power over our lives. We contemplate which uses are of benefit, and which are obsessions that do not serve us or others well. In what ways have we become slaves to its beeps and flashes? Do we have the discipline to turn it off for extended periods in order to have more face-to-face interaction? Do its social media posts seduce us into unhealthy comparisons of our lives with those of others, and into the commodification of our identities? Or do we use it to maintain deep relationships, ask sincere questions, and stay close to people we know and trust? On it, do we seek out reputable news sources, or do we just believe whatever it feeds us? Do we let it amplify our prejudices, or do we use it as a tool for critical thinking? Do we passively accept the preferences of the corporations behind this device and its applications, or do we claim control of our digital footprints as engaged citizens? Prayerfully, let us lift up our intentions to make wise use of our smart phones, and ask daily for inner guidance about when to turn them on and when to turn them off. Amen!"
"Let us take a moment of silence to be prayerfully mindful of the role this device plays in our lives..... (several seconds).... Source of needed information, means of communicating personally and professionally, platform for our education, provider of entertainment, and so much more. We are grateful for this marvel of human ingenuity, for connecting us as one human family around the globe as never before. And we take time now to be mindful of its power over our lives. We contemplate which uses are of benefit, and which are obsessions that do not serve us or others well. In what ways have we become slaves to its beeps and flashes? Do we have the discipline to turn it off for extended periods in order to have more face-to-face interaction? Do its social media posts seduce us into unhealthy comparisons of our lives with those of others, and into the commodification of our identities? Or do we use it to maintain deep relationships, ask sincere questions, and stay close to people we know and trust? On it, do we seek out reputable news sources, or do we just believe whatever it feeds us? Do we let it amplify our prejudices, or do we use it as a tool for critical thinking? Do we passively accept the preferences of the corporations behind this device and its applications, or do we claim control of our digital footprints as engaged citizens? Prayerfully, let us lift up our intentions to make wise use of our smart phones, and ask daily for inner guidance about when to turn them on and when to turn them off. Amen!"