Post 5

The message we heard in class given by Elder Bednar made me think more about how we use technology in the Church.  I'm normally rather negative towards the churches far-too-negative approach to the internet.  Too often their stance is "the internet is a terrible horrible place unless you're doing genealogy or visiting lds.org!".  They also seem to say the only reason for social media is to share the gospel.  I feel like taking stances as absolute as these does more to alienate people then help them.  The way Elder Bednar talked about social media in his ta;l was more encouraging.  It seemed must less restrictive, and more conducive of bringing our gospel principles positively into a digital world that we're all a part of.

Post 4

In class today as well as on a few other occasions, we talked about the importance of using the internet and this wonderful new technology we have 'responsibly'.  Though it's true that this technology furthers the work of God and we have a responsibility to use it in that fashion, I feel like we're demonizing other uses of technology.  Not too long ago there were articles in the Ensign that spoke of "The proper ways to use technology" which amounted to doing genealogy and looking at lds.org.  I feel like the church's reaction to technology is far too conservative.  There are many other worthwhile uses, communicating with family, finding news, educating yourself and learning new skills are just a few.  Even video games, which t he church has repeatedly denounced as a frivolous waste of time, have been proven to encourage creativity and different skills.  It was mentioned today that the church isn't as slow at adopting new technology as we might think.  Though that might be true of implementation, I feel that often our mindset is far behind what it should be.