President Kimball in an address delivered at a Regional Representatives Seminar on April 3, 1975, said, "I believe that the telephone and telegraph and other such conveniences were permitted by the Lord to be developed for the express purpose of building the kingdom. Others may use them for business, professional or other purposes, but basically they are to build the kingdom."
Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles warned, "All of the virtues and appropriate use of these technologies notwithstanding, there are risks associated with them that, when drawn too close, can put us in a spiritual eclipse and potentially block the brightness and warmth of the gospel."
Overuse of technology can affect the simplest day-to-day interactions. Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, Young Women General President of the LDS Church, said, "We live in a culture where more and more we are focused on the small, little screen in our hands than we are on the people around us. We have substituted texting and tweeting for actually looking someone in the eye and smiling or, even rarer, having a face-to-face conversation. We are often more concerned with how many followers and likes we have than with putting an arm around a friend and showing love, concern, and tangible interest. As amazing as modern technology can be for spreading the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping us stay connected to family and friends, if we are not vigilant in how we use our personal devices, we too can begin to turn inward and forget that the essence of living the gospel is service."
It's difficult to see when it's happening, but inappopriate use of technology can ultimately destroy relationships and marriages. Elder Stevenson continued to say, "The use of social media, mobile apps, and games can be inordinately time-consuming and can reduce face-to-face interaction. This loss of personal conversation can affect marriages, take the place of valuable spiritual practices, and stifle the development of social skills, especially among youth."
Another risk of technology is using social media to idealize reality and compare your life to someone else's. Elder Stevonson said, "Many (if not most) of the pictures posted on social media tend to portray life at its very best—often unrealistically. We have all seen beautiful images of home decor, wonderful vacation spots, smiling selfies, elaborate food preparation, and seemingly unattainable body images. . . . Comparing our own seemingly average existence with others’ well-edited, perfectly crafted lives as represented on social media may leave us with feelings of discouragement, envy, and even failure."
In the April 2014 general conference, Brother Randall L. Ridd, second counselor in the Young Men general presidency, said, “Every day the world seeks to influence your desires, enticing you to buy something, click on something, play something, read or watch something.”
Our desires determine our agency. And our agency determines who we become. Brother Ridd said, “Ultimately, the choice is yours. You have agency. Each choice takes you closer to or further from what you are meant to become; each click has meaning. Always ask yourself, ‘Where will this choice lead?’ Develop the ability to see beyond the moment.”
Brother Ridd talks about four principles that can help guide our decision-making regarding use of technology, as well as other everyday decisions:
1. Know who you really are (a child of God)
2. Plug in to the source of power (spiritually)
3. Owning a smartphone does not make you smart, but using it wisely can
4. Remember that the Lord provides technology to accomplish His purposes
If we focus on the principles of the gospel, we can learn to use technology appropriately. A couple years ago, I started to fill my Facebook feed with quotes from LDS groups and pages, and I now only follow friends who post uplifting things. I never get caught up in political arguments or excessive posts from friends. My purpose of having a Facebook account is to stay in touch with specific friends, be aware of upcoming events, and post uplifting thoughts.
Elder Stevenson went on to say, "As Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson reminded us this morning, success in life doesn’t come down to how many likes we get or how many social media friends or followers we have. It does, however, have something to do with meaningfully connecting with others and adding light to their lives."
The wonderful thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that if we are doing our best to follow Jesus Christ we can keep the Spirit with us, and He can warn us when we start to misuse the incredible technology we have today. ("The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.” (Moroni 7:16)) When we remember that one of the main purposes of the gospel is to uplift and serve others, we can use that principle to guide us in our use of technology. A text might be a perfect way to remind someone that we love them or to send an invitation, but we should not limit our service to just that. Technology should enhance the way we serve, not replace face-to-face interactions and actually physically walking out our door to serve someone.
Elder David A. Bednar, in a devotional given to BYU students, said, "Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer-mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience."
He continues, "Initially the investment of time may seem relatively harmless, rationalized as a few minutes of needed relief from the demands of a hectic daily schedule. But important opportunities are missed for developing and improving interpersonal skills, for laughing and crying together, and for creating a rich and enduring bond of emotional intimacy. Progressively, seemingly innocent entertainment can become a form of pernicious enslavement."
I love the saying "Be where you are when you are there." I think too often we find ourselves thinking about those we need to text when really we should be thinking about those we need to be physically present with. Phone use can wait, if it becomes a replacement for respectful social interaction.
Below are some ideas I have seen work effectively for me, my family, or friends to help monitor use of technology:
- Have a phone basket during dinner for everbody to put their phones in, so we are all present around the dinner table
- "Be where you are when you are there"
- Every time I use my phone ask myself "Is what I'm doing right now helping to grow the kingdom of God?
- Don't let technology "act upon" me. Be proactive in the way I use it--always have a plan and don't get lost in it by scrolling until I forget what I was doing in the first place
- Always invite the spirit before I use technology
- Think of other activities to do right before bed instead of scrolling through Facebook
- Read a book
- Plug the phone in in a different room, write in a gratitude journal, do relaxing activities to put yourself to bed
- Yoga
- Find islands on Google Maps, then learn about their culture, language, people, and whatever else you find interesting (or countries)
- Write thank you cards
This last quote wraps up this post well:
The wonderful thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ is that if we are doing our best to follow Jesus Christ we can keep the Spirit with us, and He can warn us when we start to misuse the incredible technology we have today. ("The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil.” (Moroni 7:16)) When we remember that one of the main purposes of the gospel is to uplift and serve others, we can use that principle to guide us in our use of technology. A text might be a perfect way to remind someone that we love them or to send an invitation, but we should not limit our service to just that. Technology should enhance the way we serve, not replace face-to-face interactions and actually physically walking out our door to serve someone.
Elder David A. Bednar, in a devotional given to BYU students, said, "Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer-mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience."
He continues, "Initially the investment of time may seem relatively harmless, rationalized as a few minutes of needed relief from the demands of a hectic daily schedule. But important opportunities are missed for developing and improving interpersonal skills, for laughing and crying together, and for creating a rich and enduring bond of emotional intimacy. Progressively, seemingly innocent entertainment can become a form of pernicious enslavement."
I love the saying "Be where you are when you are there." I think too often we find ourselves thinking about those we need to text when really we should be thinking about those we need to be physically present with. Phone use can wait, if it becomes a replacement for respectful social interaction.
Below are some ideas I have seen work effectively for me, my family, or friends to help monitor use of technology:
- Have a phone basket during dinner for everbody to put their phones in, so we are all present around the dinner table
- "Be where you are when you are there"
- Every time I use my phone ask myself "Is what I'm doing right now helping to grow the kingdom of God?
- Don't let technology "act upon" me. Be proactive in the way I use it--always have a plan and don't get lost in it by scrolling until I forget what I was doing in the first place
- Always invite the spirit before I use technology
- Think of other activities to do right before bed instead of scrolling through Facebook
- Read a book
- Plug the phone in in a different room, write in a gratitude journal, do relaxing activities to put yourself to bed
- Yoga
- Find islands on Google Maps, then learn about their culture, language, people, and whatever else you find interesting (or countries)
- Write thank you cards
This last quote wraps up this post well:
"With so many appropriate and inspired uses of technology, let us use it to teach, inspire, and lift ourselves and to encourage others to become their finest—rather than to portray our idealized virtual selves. Let us also teach and demonstrate the righteous use of technology to the rising generation and warn against the associated hazards and destructive use of it. Viewing social media through the lens of the gospel can prevent it from becoming a spiritual eclipse in our lives."
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