My husband's home teacher came by to tell him that High Priest and RS sisters will have to have a smart phone or tablet to bring to class. They will not have manuals this year.
I find this very funny. They've bitched about cell phones in Sacrament for a couple years now. Of course, the savings on printing will free up a lot of tithing that will be sent to Texas or Florida, not!

Oh-- I think the money will go to Florida all right just not in the form of charity.

It will go to development of all their ranch land in order to generate more money for LDS,Inc.

If they get rid of any or all manuals it will be just one little expense they can cross off. And church doctrine & policy will be so much easier to change. People won't be referring to pesky old manuals.

More MONEY for land development and of course--a little bit for charity. Maintain tax-exempt status at all cost.

Another source/reason to Shame (poor) people:

I don't have / can't afford a SmartPhone?!

Oh flip! I threw all my church manuals in the recycle bin and now they are going to be collector items?

But their most loyal base of support is the older folks, isn't it?

I'm 60-something. I might have an iPhone, but I don't use it for books and things -- the print is too small for my 60 something year old eyes.

What will their older (better tithe paying) constituents do?

Leave the church for greener pastures (we could only hope!)...

Can you imagine, all those "old" people who have steadfastly refused to learn how to cope with digital devices? Now, they will no longer have a choice. The church is really throwing them under the bus.

I know how to download stuff onto my phone or Kindle, but I wouldn't want to waste the bandwidth on anything Mormon. (And, hey - I'm officially OLD!)

I don't have a smart phone, and I wouldn't by one for their convenience.

LDS inc is shooting themselves in the foot, again. SUre, their saving money on printing will give them more money to speculate and invest with. However relying on digital electronic devices to access official lessons also legitimizes the use of electronic devices at MORmON meetings. AN operating electronic device provides the opportunity to INSTANTLY access a broad range of alternative media materials that are much more interesting and much more entertaining than dreadful MORmON lesson material. As they save money they also lose badly needed control and They are setting themselves up to lose an entertainment based popularity contest. Next up, just like with Porn, they will be wishing that people viewed NBA or NFL at church instead of researching ACTUAL disconcerting faith busting ugly history of MORmONISM.

This reminds me of an episode of "Little House On The Prairie" where some kid is reading a detective novel behind his/her school book and gets in trouble.

I wonder if there will be a new church position called "Spotter". He will be the High Priest Leader assigned to spot members not turned to the right page on their tablet or smart phone or looking at some non-church approved website. There will be much shame and guilt heaped upon those unrighteous souls. It might even spawn a new question for the temple recommend interview. "Do you commit sin by misusing your tablet or smart phone in the house of the Lord"?

1+

Members will unintentionally stumble across sordid details of church history while sitting in church. My neighbor and friend did that exact thing recently. What a dumb mistake. They will loose more tithing money in the long run than they saved on printing costs.

I can afford one and I refuse to buy one for that purpose

When I was a kid my ward had a group called "seventies" which were one rank below high priest. Did god change his mind and eliminate that group ?
Since I am the finest product of the aaronic priesthood I always said that there were three ranks above me.

God repurposed them.

At some point the "70s" we promoted to high priests.

Then.....a whole bunch of folks were re-ordained "70s" and made general and area authorities.

I've visited an upscale, high-academic ward a few times over the last few years (research). I noticed most people on electronic devices, and only one woman with a Quad. By contrast, in my Baptist church (about 50 adults, usually), it's 50+% Bibles, the rest evenly divided between electronic devices or just listening.

They can send things down the memory hole at the speed of light!

Yes, this.

On the positive side, you can go to church without reading your boring lessons with the excuse that because tithing comes first, there isn't enough money leftover to buy a tablet, smart phone, or laptop. And if some kind person offers to print the lessons out for you then the dog can always eat them.

This is good news, a sign the cult's house of cards is collapsing a little bit more. What's next? Bring your own bread for the sacrament.

There are many especially "we old people" who don't want to invest in a tablet or a smart phone. Although I have a smart phone, I only use it for phone calls and very little texting. I work on a computer all day and every other weekend. Why would I want to be going to church and using small computer. I purposely don't have a tablet for this reason. I DON'T WANT ONE.

We just went to Olive Garden for dinner and we requested not to use their little computer. We always request that at any restaurants we go to that have them. The waitress tonight told us that the manager wants them NOT TO GIVE US CHECKS, to make us use the computer. My boyfriend told her to tell her manager that if he does that, we will no longer go to his restaurant and we are also going to go on line and tell him that.

I'm sick of all the technology everywhere. I just feel like I'm working.

I think there will be A LOT of the "older folks" who rebel against this. My parents would have.

OTT

Yes, the lessons scope and information for teachers/leaders will be online and in the Gospel Library. However, so far as members attending these lessons are concerned, all they will need is the scriptures and a copy of the last Nov or May Ensign.

So......will this put cookies and other tracking doftware on members phones?

I teach the lesson once a month in HP. Most of the guys have been using tablets and phones for years. I think lack of demand has caused the church to quit printing manuals.

First of all, there hasn't been anything in the manuals worth reading for years now.

Second, nobody seems to be considering the possibility that the HT is wrong. He may have completely or partially garbled the message.

Another cost cutting measure like members cleaning the toilets, instead of paid hire.

It's a cheapskate measure to increase profits at members expense yet again.