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What do you do with your phone during lodge meetings?

What do you do with your phone while in the lodge?

  • Silence it.

    Votes: 81 70.4%
  • Leave it in the car

    Votes: 26 22.6%
  • nothing...no one calls me anyway.

    Votes: 4 3.5%
  • What's a cell phone?

    Votes: 4 3.5%

  • Total voters
    115

MikeMay

Premium Member
I personally usually leave it in the car. I used to leave it on silent, but I was tempted to check it during a meeting once and decided it was a distraction for me while I was at the lodge. That whole "peace and harmony" thing is why I leave it outside...

What do ya'll think?
 

MikeMay

Premium Member
What do you do with your cell phone while in the lodge room...

*** This time it has the poll....:thumbup:

I leave mine in the car.
 

AAJ

Registered User
I turn it off completely, since I am uncomfortable leaving it in the car and I don't want it distracting me. If it was on silent, I could still use it.
 

Blake Bowden

Administrator
Staff Member
Re: What do you do with your cell phone while in the lodge room...

I actually use mine during Lodge to look up articles, mark events on my calendar, etc. If we're having a debate on pancakes or waffles for a fundraiser, I'll hop on this site..hah
 

Bro. Bennett

Premium Member
I keep my phone on silent while in most meeting type environments. I would rather not have to carry a cell phone, but it is my burden to always carry one so my customers can contact me at a moments notice. I cannot hire a replacement for me for just the couple hours it takes to go to lodge, so I have to have the ability to receive calls. Someone at lodge mentioned getting an answering service, to which I stated, I have had many families call me that would have otherwise used a different funeral home, until they made a death call to said funeral home only to be answered by an answering service. They hung up, and called me instead because they knew they would get personal service.
Church is the same way, I keep it on silent but still have the ability to get calls from customers.
 

MikeMay

Premium Member
Re: What do you do with your cell phone while in the lodge room...

Not a bad idea...Personally I would be tempted to turn it on and look at emails or the Texas Masons mobile app...
 

Beathard

Premium Member
I use it in lodge for marking dates in my calendar, taking notes on the notepad, looking up information at Grand Lodge, other business that might assist the lodge. I had one brother get upset at me, but I pointed out that he had a notebook and a pocket calendar. I was doing the same things he was...
 

Benton

Premium Member
I keep it on silent. I would leave it in the car, except it's also my personal planner, so I would forget a lot of things if I wasn't able to put them in my phone's calendar when needed.

EDIT: As a side note, 95% of the time when a phone goes off in lodge, it's from one of our older gentleman, not from a young person. I think my generation maybe understands phone etiquette a little better. :p
 

jhodgdon

Registered User
Benton said:
I keep it on silent. I would leave it in the car, except it's also my personal planner, so I would forget a lot of things if I wasn't able to put them in my phone's calendar when needed.

EDIT: As a side note, 95% of the time when a phone goes off in lodge, it's from one of our older gentleman, not from a young person. I think my generation maybe understands phone etiquette a little better. :p

Haha exactly. I just turn it on silent because I also use it as a calendar.
 

MikeMay

Premium Member
As a side note, 95% of the time when a phone goes off in lodge, it's from one of our older gentleman, not from a young person. I think my generation maybe understands phone etiquette a little better. :p

I certainly cannot argue that...:thumbup1:

I love my venerable brothers, but we're more accustom to the changes in technologies...
 

tom268

Registered User
I don't have one. But with the brothers, who have, it depends on the situation. When the brothers are called in the temple by the Director of Ceremonies, they are told to leave them behind or put them off. Special dispensation for medics, policemen etc. on emergency call, or, for example, a brother, who has to care for his daughter as a single parent.

Before and after the ritual meeting, during the social time in the lodge, the cellphones should be on silence.
 

Bro. Stewart P.M.

Lead Moderator Emeritus
Staff Member
I turn both of my phones on silent and leave them on the display case outside of the lodge room, along with my pocket knife.
 

cemab4y

Premium Member
Interesting story. I was in a lodge meeting, in Moscow, Russia. My wife was at her mother's apartment, in Moscow. During the lodge meeting, my cell phone rang, it was my wife, and she was just certain that I was going to be kidnapped. I had to leave the lodge meeting early, to go home, before she had a nervous breakdown.
 

Dave in Waco

Premium Member
I keep mine on silent. I bring it because like so many, I keep my calendar on it. I also keep a copy of the Law book on it to search if need be, and other notes. Also, because our lodge room is upstairs in a locked building, we have to keep phones on in case someone comes to the door, since we can't hear the buzzer in the lodge room.
 

Benjamin Baxter

Moderator
Premium Member
I just put mine on silent, but since I am so new at this, my mind is going 100 mph. I don't think I have looked once at my phone in lodge or even thought about it. But maybe I should leave it with my hat outside the door.
 

jwhoff

Premium Member
Guys I leave mine on vibrate. I get a kick out of it! Hell, at my age I like it so much I've taken to calling myself three or four times a day. Haven't tried it in lodge though.

:blush:
 

robert leachman

Registered User
On vibrate. Only way for my wife or kids to reach me if there was an emergency.

Same as in church, I keep it on vibrate, not off, in case of an emergency. Wife and kids are with me but I can dial right away if some emergency were to occur.
 

Bill Lins

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Guys I leave mine on vibrate. I get a kick out of it! Hell, at my age I like it so much I've taken to calling myself three or four times a day. Haven't tried it in lodge though. :blush:

You're one sick puppy, Bro. Hoff! :lol:
 
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