6.29.2008

sunday reflections:

the good side of the internet

in our rush to condemn the internet and everything dangerous on it. don’t forget that it still contains a host of positive family.friendly tools that can help bring our families closer together and effectively communicate the importance of gospel principles in our lives.


today families are scattered, but are still able to be a part of each other.s lives. you can see kids learning to walk on a video blog share the latest vacation pictures on the family website and read about family college experiences on a blog.

the internet is also the medium by which we can support the church.s effort to clearly explain our religion. in a speech given at byu-hawaii in 2007 elder m. russell ballard gave a call to action regarding the internet:


all faithful members of the Church . . . may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the internet. particularly the new media. to share the gospel and to explain in simple clear terms the message of the restoration. most of you already know that if you have access to the internet you can start a blog in minutes and begin sharing what you know to be true. you can download videos from church and other appropriate sites including newsroom at www.lds.org. and send them to your friends. you can write to media sites on the internet that report on the church and voice your views as to the accuracy of the reports.

our capacity to do some good via the internet is immense:

blogging
a blog is an online journal where you can post commentary and musings or whatever you like. once friends and family have the address they can go online to read and comment about your
adventures. lds living recommends www.blogspot.com or www.wordpress.com. a family blog where everyone has the password t0 post their own stories. can be the start of a family website.

online journals
part of the struggle with journaling is just getting it written. try getting your thoughts and memories down by typing or texting them to a free and secure online journal site such as www.ldsjournal.com. you can add audio . video . and pictures to your journal and even have it published as a book or dvd. but best part is that you can go back and edit.

photo books and scrapbooking
with www.shutterfly.com design your own photo book. add photos . commentary . and just click and drop onto ready-made pages. make posters . calendars . cards . invitations . and gifts.

comments and letters.to.the.editor
online comments and letters to the editor reach a lot of people. if something is being said that is simply not true. write in. keep your comments nonbelligerent. simple facts are most effective. sometimes even positive feedback.

ratings
get more than movie ratings at www.commonsensemedia.org. find reviews for dvds . tv . games . music . websites . books and offer up your own reactions. there are sections just for kids and families as well as an email newsletter.

city guides
find reviews by everyday people for hotels . restaurants shopping . entertainment . medical . spas . and financial services in any city at www.yelp.com.

family indexing
www.familysearchindexing.org provides a variety of projects you can pull from to help build the searchable databases you will need to find your ancestors

questions and answers
run a search for lds topics at answers.yahoo.com and you’ll find people all over the world asking questions about our beliefs. you can help someone out by answering some of them.

defining
wikipedia is an online collaborative encyclopedia. sign up for a free account www.wikipedia.com and help edit or create articles. you can even edit content in other languages.

remember the force for good that you can have through the internet and use it.

[from www.ldsliving.com]

2 comments:

shelly said...

I think you're kind of amazing...just thought you should know!

lyn. said...

Thanks, you made my day...

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