Spiritual Musings 8/31

Today in Sunday school we talked about using social media to spread positive and uplifting messages throughout the world. Though we often talk about this in terms of "hastening the work" (missionary efforts) or increasing exposure to the church, I think social media can be used in multiple ways.
He are just a few:

1. Elder Bednar (one of the twelve living apostles) gave a talk called "Things as they really are." In his talk he described the danger of anonymity and creating virtual personnas online. When we get too virtual we can lose sight of reality and become detached from our physical bodies and physical reality. I think the first rule of thumb for me when it comes to social media is: Be real. Do not hide behind social media or create a false front.  Do not let your social media presence outlive your presence outside of it.

2. What do you value? Does your facebook page agree? The scriptures talk about the existence of a record called the "Book of Life." It records our words, thoughts, and deeds in this life and will be opened at the judgment day. Facebook acts as a psuedo-book of life. It records what we like, what we view, where we shop (with cookies and tracks), etc. and caters advertisements, friends, groups, pages, etc. to us. Take a look at your newsfeed. Who do you follow? Who do you like? What groups have you joined? If someone else looked at your newsfeed what would they feel? Disgusted? Impressed? How would they describe you? Family oriented? Sporty? What do you value?

3. We can use social media to quickly and easily share positive and uplifting messages. In a follow up to the talk previously mentioned, Elder Bednar spoke about using social media to spread the gospel and influence others for good. This does not necessarily mean we need to be pulpit pounders only posting about religion. It does mean we should share what is important to us. If a scripture, video, experience, etc. helped you...share it. Send personalized messages to friends in need or family who might be feeling down. Social media does not always have to be so public.

4. Be familiar with all types of media so you know how to talk about it, use it, and guard against it. If you do not learn how to use twitter, how will you know how to monitor and teach your children how to use it appropriately.  Be familiar with media resources you can use and how to present them in different mediums. Build a reservoir of positive messages from which you can share.

5. Moderation in all things. Do not forget to moderate the time spent, content viewed and received, etc. when using social media. It can easily become a distraction and soak up time with very little return on your investment.

In the past I have been more inclined to avoid social media sources that I either do not understand or do not particularly like (twitter). However, I have felt lately that by ignoring these phenomena I am only doing myself a disservice and under-utilizing a tool for building the Lord's kingdom.

I think we have a lot to gain from using social media and becoming more familiar with it regardless of our age or status in life. As we move forward I would add these last few points from Elder Bednar:
Be truthful. Seek to edify, not to argue. Respect intellectual property rights. Be wise, and protect yourself. As I said before, what you say online is recorded. Be sure that you are okay with the fact that everything you say can be accessed and shared by somebody. That is all.