+ WEEK SEVEN REFLECTION POST

For my last blog post of the semester I wanted to write about how social media strengthens my testimony.

This week I was watching a YouTube that made me question some things. I have been watching this particular youtube-er for a a few years, and this week she posted a video about her coming out and announcing that she is gay. I don't know her personally, but I think that social media has a powerful influence and makes us feel connected to the people that we watch on YouTube or see on other social media sites. I was pretty surprised by her video and it led to my friends and I having a pretty deep conversation. Someone's sexual orientation is their choice, but I fully heartedly stand with what the prophets have declared about marriage that is ordained of God is between a man and a woman. Only men and women have the power to replenish the Earth, and the relationships we form in this life are a part of our Heavenly Father's plan.

Social media can strengthen what we believe, but it can also make us question our beliefs. I think that it is really good for us to sometimes question what we believe and feel challenged, it can push us to gain a stronger testimony, but we also have to be wise and cautious at what we expose ourselves to. It is vital for us to keep the perspective of the Gospel in mind as a media consumer.

After watching the video, I was prompted to study more about what our believes and same-sex attraction are. It is easy to live in a bubble, and it is good to have experiences that push us out of that bubble and solidify what we believe. I also spent some time on mormon.org, I don't think we really mentioned this in class, but I think that it is a form of social media. It allows members to post content and interact with others. I love that the Church is supportive of using technology and social media to its fullest capabilities to share the Gospel.

Like a social media platforms, there are good's and bad's to all of it. I think it is important to be involved in a variety of social media platforms, but to be aware of our purpose in using it and monitor what we do/how much time we spend using it. Social media is a powerful tool in connecting human kind together and sharing our believes and different part of our lives. Seeing how others use social media is a good reminder to me of how I want to use social media and what motivates me. I love having platforms that allow me to share goodness around the world, to my closer friends and strangers, and to be a witness of what I believe.

+ WEEK SIX REFLECTION POST

For our prep work this week, we were asked to listen to "If You Think You're Anonymous Online, Think Again." I thought that this NPR piece was fascinating. I really loved this assignment and I think it is a good one for us to listen to for this class.

And a little scary.

It is easy to feel complacent and safe on the Internet, but in all actuality there are a lot of things that we should be more careful about. One thing I thought was interesting was the public wifi portion of the interview. When I am on the mainland I hardly ever use wifi, or even here for that matter. But when I was in Australia, I relied on public wifi if I wasn't at home or at work. I hated connecting to public wifi's especially when you have to sign on with an email and agree to a terms of use. What Angwin said is true, "he truth is, what we're learning in today's world is that nothing is free. If something is supposed to be free, then it really means they're taking your data." 
I think it is a safe rule of thumb to avoid connecting to public wifi's.

Something that I have been thinking about recently is shopping online. I recently read this blog post and thought it was pretty interesting. I hadn't really thought of buying those $100 visa cards from a store instead of using my credit or debt cards. (I also like the rules this blogger uses when posting on Instagram that you can read here)

Earlier this week I started noticing changes to Chrome and my Google account. When I sign on to a school computer new notifications about privacy have been coming up. Of course it makes sense and is pretty obvious...but I had never really realized how much Google knows about me. I use Google as a search engine, I use Google maps, I use Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Blogger. It is disturbing to know that Google could pretty much put together my life through everything I use it for. I don't plan on not using Google, but I do want to be smarter in how many eggs I put into one tool, it could be good to branch out a little.

Just while I was typing this I got a call from a toll free number and I am streaming Elder Perry's funeral. It is rather amazing how I can use technology in this day in age. I am so grateful that technology allows me to stay connected with the world and especially with our living prophet and apostles.

+ WEEK FIVE REFLECTION POST

I just finished the prep work for our class next week since I have so much going on, so this post reflects some of what we will discuss next week and what we discussed this week. This week I wanted to write about how I hope my children will use technology and to what extent.

I love technology. As we have talked about in class, it is such a great blessing that Heavenly Father has given us to use in this day. I can't imagine my life without a computer, phone, the internet, and so many other modern conveniences. I can't imagine having gone through school without using Google! Or living in another country and not being able to communicate with my family back home. It is amazing just how dependent I am on technology. I know that my children will share this with me, maybe even more so. In one of the articles we were assigned to read it mentioned that technology is increasing the rate in which our culture changes because we can communicate so easily. It seems like this will just continue to happen and evolve more and more as technology develops further.

So, how do I want my children to use technology?

Back home I babysit for a particular family all the time. I love the system that they have set up in their family. They use a token system. The kids have to read for an hour to earn 30 minutes of play time on their iPad's/the Wii. I really love this. I think that with anything in life, moderation is key. We can have a healthy relationship with our phones, the internet, everything really. And the best place for our children to see this is in our example.

I also like the things that we talked about as a class in what we can do to protect our children against pornography. I loved all the steps from the article we read, especially the one about having an open relationship. I love that even when the parents heard something shocking, they waited until their children had left the room to be shocked/surprised. That is something that I want to practice in my own family! I have really learned the past couple of years how important communication is to the strength of any relationship, and I want my children to know that they can talk to me about whatever they are facing.

I think that the more we talk with our kids and model moderation with technology, we will set a good example for our children to follow.

+ WEEK FOUR REFLECTION POST

I really enjoyed our guest lecturer, Paul Wilson, for class yesterday. I had never even heard of The Dark Web prior to this class, so the lecture was not only informative, but also pretty eye opening.

I have been aware of the rather awful things you can find on the Internet for a while. I guess I am specifically referring to pornography. And honestly, learning about the dark web, and the fact that the surface web that I access on a daily basis is literally only the tip of the iceberg in what can be found on this little thing we call the world wide web is rather remarkable and horrifying all at the same time. All that is out there is hard to fathom, especially the filth that is out there. I don't really feel that there is much good to the TOR but I will list a couple of things that can be beneficially from this sort of network:

+ Spreading news that the government is trying to keep covered, especially in places like China.

+ The FBI having access to this network and being able to possible catch criminals, though based on our discussion it doesn't seem that this is a big thing they do, though they use it often.

+ And maybe, it is good for all the "bad guys" (not saying everything on the TOR is bad, but majority of it is...I am little biased) to have a place where they can all hang out. 

Paul Wilson brought up an interesting point about the dark web by referring to it as a honey pot. People using TOR often create things that "are too good to resist" and end up catching exactly who they were after in the first place. I think that a lot of the "bad" people on the Internet are pretty smart and know exactly how to get what they are after. When young people go out looking for porn or even stumble upon it, it tends to have that stickiness effect similar to honey. They become trapped even by an initial encounter, and the further they go, the more sticky they get. We also learned that most children access pornography in their grandparents homes because of the lack of filters. I think that one of the articles a classmate was assigned to read on our FB group also mentioned that they first see it at a friends house. Filters are always a good practice, but I also think that as parents (or as a future parent) that we must be vigilant and aware of what are children are doing on the web and with their friends. 

I also think it is interesting the perspective of the Church and some modern science is adding to the dangers of pornography and its addictive nature. It will be interesting to see if our views on the dangers of pornography change in the next 20 years. It will also be interesting to see if use of the TOR expands over this time. I really liked our guest lecturer and I think we could have a really great class discussion about this! 

+ WEEK THREE REFLECTION POST

This week's post was inspired by the general conference talks we were assigned to read for class. I came across this picture from Pinterest a while back...

(click here to see where the image i pinned was linked from)

I printed it off and hung it up on my bulletin board at work. I LOVED it. But do you want to my first thought (after thinking about how much I loved that counsel) was, "Did Elder Christofferson really say that? That kind of doesn't sound like something he would say but...." (BUT I FOUND IT ON THE INTERNET SO IT MUST BE RIGHT, RIGHT? ;) And I kept telling myself, "I need to Google that quote and see what talk it came from," but I never got around to it. 

Last week I opened "Of Things That Matter Most" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf (from October 2012 General Conference) and was pleasantly surprised when I read,

"May I suggest that you reduce the rush and take a little extra time to get to know yourself better. Walk in nature, watch a sunrise, enjoy God’s creations, ponder the truths of the restored gospel, and find out what they mean for you personally. Learn to see yourself as Heavenly Father sees you—as His precious daughter or son with divine potential."

I laughed. I obviously remembered the quote and the image upon reading "May I suggest that you reduce the rush..." 

I am glad I am finally aware of who actually said that quote. In class we have talked about the need for US to be the fact checkers. I was ok not being 100% sure who said the quote on Pinterest, but I for sure would have double checked it if I was going to use it in a sacrament meeting talk. 

But why?

Shouldn't I be concerned about what I read on the Internet upon reading it, not just when I want to use it for something? 

I think the answer is yes and no. 

There is so much information on the Internet, and I don't think I could possibly double check everything I read, or pin or see on the Internet. But I do think that I need to double check my sources when I plan on sharing something with others, or I am trying to educate myself. This was a good reminder of how important it is to be aware of the media I am consuming and the influence it can have on me and my life.

On another note, I really liked the TED talk we watched in class, "Why videos go viral" by Kevin Allocca. Anything we put on the Internet could really become the next big thing. I think that is why it is so important that we are being "fact checkers" and that we are making sure that things we are posting on the Internet are true and come from a credible source. 

Last year Elder Bednar spoke about the need for the content we post on the Internet to be genuine and to share goodness in what we post. Katie Couric also echoed that message in the interviews we watched with her. 

I am glad that we are being counseled more and more to be wise about the things that we post and share on the Internet. The Internet and social media can be a great source of light if are willing to use it for good and be our own personal fact checkers. 

+ WEEK TWO REFLECTION POST

After all the talk about Facebook in class I decided I wanted my post this week to be about my current feelings about Facebook and why I fall under the “inactive user” category.

I remember making a Facebook in 8^th/9^th grade. I remember the summer I made it, sitting on my bed with my friend changing my profile picture. I remember always changing things around and really caring about how my profile looked- from my statuses to my profile pictures. That sometimes meant deleting things that were embarrassing later on. I never posted a ton on Facebook, and when I did, it was very self-monitored (something I just learned about in my Social Psychology class, I rate a little high on the scale… :)).

In 2013 I decided that I was “done” with Facebook. I was using it to keep tabs on people and I was always comparing myself to others. It didn’t make me happy and it seemed like such a waste of time. I started by deactivating my account. Which was definitely jumping feet first. I learned that it took time and moderation to wean myself off of it. That experience showed me just how addicted I was to Facebook and technology in general. Sometimes I would cave and hop back on, but over time I had no desire to get on Facebook anymore – I didn’t miss it. I wasn’t missing out on much either, when really important things happened on Facebook, someone told me about it, and if someone was trying to get ahold of me through Facebook and couldn’t, they eventually found a way to get in touch with me.

I know that I am not the only one who sees this, but social media can be so deceiving. I think one of the biggest things that drove me away from Facebook was how often the statuses and pictures I saw posted were people just trying to post things for likes. Finding genuine social media can be hard when your friends are worried about becoming more popular on a social sphere. The more that I have distanced myself from social media, the more I have found other outlets that seem more real to me. In the Kaite Couric videos we watched (which I really really liked!) she talked about this very thing. We are able to create an entire persona online that is completely different than who we are. She encouraged us to be real on the social media outlets we use, just like Elder Bednar did last year. It is refreshing to see celebrities and people in the spotlight following that example (even though they aren't aware of it) and encouraging the world to be authentic. 

Personally, I love how unattached I am to Facebook. I love not having something that I feel tied down to; in a world where I feel like things are always grapping at me, wanting my attention and full dedication to. (And most of those things are completely useless...I have social media apps that I love and I use all the time i.e. Instagram and Pinterest...such time wasters!). I don’t know if this is fair to say, but I feel like our generation/this day in age is faced with so many things that tend to bind us down – things that we are addicted to. We are obsessed with them. We think we can’t live without them. We rely on them for everything.

Now, I haven’t deleted my Facebook all together, and even though I hardly ever look at my Facebook (for months at a time) I still don’t want to delete it. Why? I love all the connections I have on Facebook. Sure, I don’t really care to follow along on most of their lives, but I find some comfort in knowing they are there. I find comfort knowing that I have a place where all (or most) of the connections I have made with people the last view years all over the world are saved in one place. I know where to look when I want to see what is happening with someone I went to EFY with in 2011. Or someone I spent time with in Australia. Or my fourth grade teacher.

One example of this happened last year. I am friends with the missionaries that taught me five years ago on Facebook, and to be honest, those are probably my most treasured friendships. We are forever friends…and I love that I can find them on Facebook. After not using Facebook for a year, I got on to tell the Elder and the Sisters that taught me that I was going through the temple to receive my endowment. It was something I wanted to share with them – and not having their email or phone numbers, Facebook was the only option I had. I am so grateful for that ability to communicate with them and tell them something that I knew was special for everyone involved.

So, even though I act like I really dislike Facebook (which I kind of do…) it does have its pro’s. I worry about the way we use Facebook and what our intentions are when we post (on any social media platform) but that is a post for another day. I don’t feel the need to share things about my life on Facebook, hardly anywhere on the Internet. But I do love the day and age that we live in when we can connect so easily. All in all, Facebook isn’t my go to social media app, but I still find a strange sense of comfort knowing it is there.

+ WEEK ONE REFLECTION POST

One thing that I really loved about class this week was the TED talk we watched, “Connected, But Alone” by Sherry Turkle. I LOVED this and it is probably by new favorite TED talk. I think she makes very accurate observations about how social media and technology are changing human nature and our relationships, “What I’ve found is that our little devices, those little devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don’t only change what we do, they change who we are.” It is crazy to think that the technology that we use is literally changing us.

My class notes included things like:
+ we try to clean up our relationships with technology
+ conversations with others help us learn how to have conversations with ourselves
+ we turn to the web to have “automatic listeners”
+ we expect more from technology and less from each other
+ connection… a symptom? or a cure? à we are setting ourselves up for isolation
+ we have to create a self-aware relationship with technology

For this blog post I want to reflect on a couple of things I really loved from her talk.

1. How we relate to others and ourselves.

The concept that the way I use technology can affect my relationship/interactions with others makes perfect sense to me, but thinking about how it can change my “capacity for self-reflection” is mind-boggling. I think it is true that we want to be with other people, but when we are together, we are completely happy to transport ourselves somewhere else mentally and emotionally. Where once mental and emotional connections were what we sought, the physical presence of another is what we crave more than ever before- even if we are not connected at all. It is interesting to examine how we feel about others in the 21^st century. Turkle points out that, “I see that people can’t get enough of each other, if and only if they can have each other at a distance, in amounts they can control.” She calls this the goldilocks effect - we seek the perfect amount of human connectedness – and it must be in our control. When we think that we have control of something that is when we actually have lost control of that thing. This is especially true with technology and how connected we feel to others and the world around us.

2. Take time to gather yourself.

On my class notes for the day I wrote, “TAKE TIME TO BE STILL FOR FIVE MINUTES EVERY DAY.” Purposeful stillness is important to me. During fall semester I took a stress management class where we learned how to really get control of our situation and mind. As a part of the class we had to meditate and take more time to be still in our daily lives. Taking time for myself, or even just giving myself a break in a social setting has totally changed how I feel in situations. I can better get control of myself and understand how I am feeling/the root of my problems. I think if more people took the time to be still we would all be happier people! It is important to learn how to be alone and not be lonely – and I love that she acknowledges that we need to teach our children this.

3. The Internet gives us “automatic listeners”.

Turkle says, “The feeling that no one is listening to me is very important in our relationships with technology. That’s why it’s so appealing to have a Facebook page or a Twitter feed – so many automatic listeners. And the feeling that no one is listening to me make us want to spend time with machines that seem to care about us.” One judge that I personally use in posting on social media is my motivation. I know that my sound so stupid, but I know that how I am using social media and how it can make me feel, totally impacts my mood! So when I go to post I think, “Am I doing this for likes/to feel good about myself? Am I doing this do inspire and encourage others? Am I doing this because I want to preserve a memory and I don’t care what others think?” I know that I am not the only person out there that has been disappointed when a picture didn’t get enough likes or comments. And to me, that is so silly! I know friends that find a lot of self-gratification in how they use social media. I can tell by what they post and how they behave. They crave for the attention of others. It is really sad that we live in a world where it is easier to turn to the web, a big ball of nothingness, instead of our family, friends, spouses, etc. Our search for “automatic listeners” should be a clear red flag of our need to strengthen our personal relationships.

I love one of her last sentences,

“We’re smitten with technology. And we’re afraid, like young lovers, that too much talking might spoil the romance.” It is my goal to not be so “smitten with technology” and to not fear talking with others. I have personally learned that when I build walls and keep people out, it is damaging to my relationships. I think this true when we let technology and social media be our place of comfort, instead of the human relationships that we need to focus on. My favorite quote from Turkle is, “Because it is when we stumble or hesitate or lose our words that we reveal ourselves to each other.” I really love this…social media can’t show who we really are, it is only through expressing ourselves intimately and fully to each other that human relationships can flourish, and that we can be connected- in every sense of the word.

You can read/watch Sherry Turkle’s TED talk here.