Blogger of Jared

Religious Ritalin (or Adderall if you prefer)

Posted by Eric Nielson on August 8th, 2008

[Like a voice from the dust, as one having a familiar spirit, Blogger of Jared co-founder Ryan Moore favors us with another post]

So despite my departure from Blogger of Jared quite some time ago, I still cruise the ‘nacle occasionally. I even throw out a comment every once in a while. The main reason for this is that amongst all the random ruminations of people I will probably never meet in real life, there are ocassionally posts that display excellent bits of obscure historical LDS scholarship. J. Stapley is one of my favorites for whipping out some fascinating anecdote or vignette from the annals of church history. Ardis Parshall recently put up some advertisements pulled from church publications earlier in the century that were fascinating (although scandalous). Then there are the workhorses –bloggers who compile statistics about word counts and population data and those kinds of things.


 
Basically, I came for the community, but stayed for the scholarship. In conjunction with the ‘nacle, I use lots of other resources from across the world wide web to enhance my studies.
 
I sure wish I could do this in church.
 
I have attention deficit disorder and so sometimes sitting in church for me is a pretty taxing exercise. If I could bring my laptop and my verizon wireless card this problem would disappear immediately. Listening to a talk or a lesson while having all of my internet study resources at my fingertips would keep me much more anxiously engaged in the topic as I googled commentaries and traced references. It would be my religious Ritalin. I’m being totally honest when I say that it would greatly enhance my Sunday meeting experience
 
I think about doing this almost every week. Unfortunately I am too much of a pansy. I care too much about what others think and so I can’t bring myself to do it. I feel like everyone will see me in Sacrament meeting and inwardly gasp at my blatant sacrilege. Desecrating the chapel with the evil internet. (BTW, I have softkeys on my laptop and a touchpad so the clickety-clack of a keyboard isn’t an issue.)
 
I don’t know… should i just do it?
 
Maybe if I sit in the overflow with all the latecomers I won’t feel as bad. After all, these are the sinners whose children are so unruly that they can’t even get to 12:30 church on time. Their judgements aren’t as valid as our nerdy Elders Quorum president who sits in the front row every week.

9 Responses to “Religious Ritalin (or Adderall if you prefer)”

    If it were just in Sunday School or Priesthood meeting I would be all for it. But when it comes to Sacrament meeting - that is a worship service. I think it should be a time when cell phones and laptops and all other electronic devices should be turned off and safely stored. There are exits at the back and front of the chapel and you seat cusion can be used as a floation device.

    I think you should be inside the chaple, fighting with your child (children) with the rest of us.

    Comment # 1 left by Eric Nielson on August 8th, 2008

    Awesome.

    I have religious ADD sometimes too. It always seems to be the worst on high council Sundays. I have found that the best medication is a good dose of Damitol.

    Comment # 2 left by Mark IV on August 8th, 2008

    I do this is SS/EQ with my iPhone. It’s come in handy when somebody wondered out loud what a certain word meant, so I looked it up in the online version of Webster’s 1828 dictionary. Or when the teacher didn’t print enough copies of a talk. Or when I wanted to go off on a tangent and look up some quotes on the topic at hand to share with the group. I heart mobile internet access — especially in the more yawny church meetings.

    Comment # 3 left by Connor on August 8th, 2008

    Eric,

    I agree with you, I think. But I don’t know why. I don’t think the spirit is offended by technology. If it would enhance my sabbath experience… why not?

    Mark,

    Nice.

    Comment # 4 left by Ryan on August 8th, 2008

    Perhaps you should try an iPhone (like Connor), Blackberry, or other similar device. Several men in our ward including high priests don’t even bring their scriptures any more. They use these devices to read their scriptures or lesson manual, to surf for answers, or even to read their mail–all during Church. They’re a lot smaller and less conspicuous than a laptop, and entering data doesn’t cause the tap, tap, tap we’d all hear from a laptop. For kicks, though, I’d love to hear that some time: 20 people tapping on a keyboard in an otherwise quiet Sunday School class. It would sound like rain and probably put me into a blissful nap.

    Comment # 5 left by david on August 8th, 2008

    I’ve got a Nokia N800 that I use during church. I’ve got the standard works, EQ/RS manual, hymns, and the NET Bible (good translation, excellent translators’ notes, available for free in HTML)… and sometimes I wish I wireless were available as well. The little device will do it, and the browser is fantastic.

    I also second the iPhone as an option. Those things are slick.

    I have ADHD as well, and today I played Mahjongg during Sunday School. It helped me focus. I also jotted down thoughts I had during EQ lesson that would otherwise have lasted about a second. I don’t think technology grieves the Spirit either. My little handheld has enhanced my worship experience greatly.

    Comment # 6 left by Anonymous on August 10th, 2008

    Ryan:

    There is more than just you and the spirit to consider. I gave a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday, and I can not tell you how encouraging and comforting it was to see several people looking at me and acting like they were interested in what I was saying. If I was to look out over the audience and see people glued to their screens, handhelds, phones, etc. it would be very disheartening.

    I think we owe it to our children, the speakers, the bishop, etc., to show that we are being supportive in the meeting. Clicking away at a laptop is not the type of body language that communicates that.

    Comment # 7 left by Eric Nielson on August 11th, 2008

    I hear ya! As an ADHDer I finally took the following suggestion of an elderly friend who dealt with this for most of her life before coming up with a solution that worked for her. I hope it benefits someone else.

    Sunday morning (if meetings start later in the day, or Saturday night (if they start early) I sift through the questions or topics or issues that I’ve been mentally dwelling on that week until one either stands out (inspired) or I just pick one that maybe I decided to “study” earlier in the week. I select a book from my personal library that discusses that issue if I have some, or look up the topic online at gospelink.com and print out a couple of promising sources. Then, if I find my mind wandering during the meetings, (and if my kids miraculously behave) I pull out my book/material AND my scriptures and a small notebook and go at it. (For me, the scriptures are key here, because I always cross check and reference my insights with anything God might have said on the matter.)

    Just a few of the benefits of this system is:
    It makes me look smart/studious. *grin*
    Because I am ADHD, I CAN listen to the speaker and read at the same time and more times than I can count, the speaker will say something directly related to what I’m trying to learn and because I have a pen in my hand, I can jot it down entirely and immediately. In some ways, I think doing this makes me listen MORE.
    Several speakers have told me that they felt encouraged (or nervous) when they saw me “taking notes during [their] talk”. *another grin*
    I actually LEARN more when surrounded by the Spirit and others who are seeking knowledge.
    I no longer dread meetings.
    Because all of my “Sunday/doctrinal/inspired” thoughts are written in this notebook and I have it with me in each class, if I am prompted to share something I’ve learned, I can do so with clarity and scriptural reference.
    I view it as a journal of my spiritual growth.

    I’ve considered the technology approach to do this, but I seem to retain and remember more when I hand write stuff (even if I would much rather type) and there is something about the visual diagrams and placement on actual pages (and margins) that makes it easier for me to recall or find later.

    God Bless

    Comment # 8 left by xoxoxoxo on August 11th, 2008

    I often use NoDoz (caffeine tablets) to stay awake during Sunday meetings. Sometimes when a speaker goes into that Utah sing-song cadence of speaking it still over-powers me and knocks me out.

    Comment # 9 left by Bookslinger on August 14th, 2008

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