My books never run out of battery, never have to be charged, or hurt my eyes, or have to receive updates, or require data, nor do they cause me to stay up at night with the now-infamous “blue light.” And as much as engineers try to make the perfect ergonomic phone, they’re still stiff and weird in our hands-and that will never change. I once wore the paint off some beads on a rosary, and it was a similar feeling-I knew that rosary was my rosary. Its compositions are natural and there is something special about flipping pages, overturning ribbons, and reading words I’ve read on the same page, over and over, and watching the pages become used, little by little. Holding a book in my hands is one of my favorite feelings. The feel and aesthetic together are incomparable.

Not to forget, I will never use my pray books as a tool of sin. I’m never distracted-or rather-it is never the book that is distracting me and has zero potential to distract me.

My Divine Office books, on the other hand, have one single end: the liturgy, prayer and devotion. Sometimes, with social media, it is also a near occasion of sin. My phone is used for a myriad of operations: email, media, calls, pleasuring reading, some games, and sometimes having fresh sushi delivered to me. I’m often distracted by technology-isn’t everyone? When I pray with my phone, it’s infinitely more difficult to not be in a hurry like I am with all the other apps and to not feel like I need to answer those messages I saw before slipping the phone into 'do not disturb' mode. My smartphone is a multi-tool, a book is not. But I prefer the books to pray the Liturgy of the Hours, and here’s a few helpful reasons why. Yes, I know, and I do (when my books aren’t available). Then, too, I run into Catholics who inquire and the other popular response I receive is, “You know you can do that from your phone, right?”

Divine office online