All Saint's Day and Social Media

All Souls Day - a feast for the living and the dead? Yes, it is that time of the year when the whole family troops to the church and offers a mass for the departed members and pays them respect.  It is supposed to be a commemorative service ... a time for serious reflection and deep contemplation. It requires one to concentrate and the focal point is celebrating the memory of our loved ones.

But how can we do it when we are sitting in front of high school students who were not there to attend the mass ... but probably fulfilling an obligation to the family by being present physically ... but were actually mentally absent because they were busy attending to their phones and calls. Everybody was distracted and inattentive ... they looked like their business with their phones was more important than praying for their loved ones.

If you have sore eyes ... what we saw and experienced is a sight to have more sore eyes or retinopathy or keratoconjunctivitis. I saw one student who couldn't wait for the mass to end ... and she checked her messages right under the pew.  And she has the courage to answer them as if she is proud that everybody is looking at her.

Another one in broad daylight ... scrolled her Facebook account as she mumbled inaudible words and pretended she was praying. Such a spoiled brat! Another phone buzzed nearby and the guy sensing an adult was giving him dagger looks ... automatically muted his phone./

When the priest had his homily about life and death ... no one was listening. One guy almost dozed off and one is bored to death ... expecting maybe the priest will incorporate comedy spiels to wake up his audience.  And what was his quickie relief from boredom? You're right ... he secretly peeked at his notifications right under the nose of the annoyed adults on his left.  Paying tribute to the dead is challenging ... especially this guy who is almost in the Twilight Zone while listening to the sermon.

And these activities did not end there.  Beautiful Offertory songs were sung... and that did not prevent another guy from checking his emails. The mass needed everybody for some profound examination of himself but we saw phone-swiping in progress.

We bow our heads for the Sanctus but this pesky kid bows his head to get a selfie (a photograph of himself ... taken by himself.) What are these kids thinking? Is discipline dead? What is infuriating was that all these activities were done inside the church. Where is respect when you need one?

Does social media have a negative influence on student's discipline and behavior?

According to studies ... social media was found to have influenced students' discipline negatively in schools. Social media has also an impact on the student's behavior. As students repeatedly checked messages on social media ... they got addicted to them.  As a result their cognitive repertoire and mental capacity have become limited ... as they lose their concentration ... and also their discipline.

.Students who spend too much time on social media may struggle with time management and become less productive in the classroom. Students are easily distracted from their studies by constant alerts, endless scrolling feeds, and the appeal of viral material.

Other negative effects of social media are distracting them, disrupting their sleep pattern, and exposing them to bullying, peer pressure, and rumor-spreading.

Going back to the question: Is All Souls Day a feast of the LIVING and the DEAD? Yes ... it is supposed to be the time when the living gives respect to the dead. Or it could be interpreted this way:  Sa araw ng mga PATAY ... ang mga tao ay BUHAY na BUHAY. Ang mga bata ngayon kahit sa loob ng simbahan wala ng sinaSanto ... kahit Todos Los Santos.

Kaya sa Araw Ng Mga Patay ... i-celebrate din natin ang mga BUHAY ... unfortunately as it turned out ... ang mga BUHAY ay PA-PATAY PATAY (their discipline and respect I mean) ... the way they act ... and the way they behaved.