The other day, I was on facebook. You know, just browsing through my friends’ posts and commenting here and there. It is easy to spend a lot of time on facebook or other blogs and media today just wasting time. I was struck by something though. As I was scrolling down, I read a very uplifting quote from President Hinkley. It was something that I was pondering and thinking about. It affected me so much that I even wrote a blog post about it that I linked above. Yet, in the next instant, I saw something very vulgar that another friend hadn’t posted himself, but that he had commented on, so it showed up on my facebook page. I immediately thought of the warnings of some of our church leaders regarding the dangers of the overuse of media today. It is so simple to stumble upon something evil, vulgar, or destructive when two seconds before, you were pondering a beautiful quote in your heart and mind.
I guess it is one of the beauties (if we can call it that) of Satan’s plan. We can justify in our minds all we want that we are just going to hop online for a minute, and two hours later, the beautiful, sunny afternoon we could have spent with our children is gone. Or perhaps, we decide to just chat with an old high school boyfriend to “catch up” and before we know it, the conversations have turned inappropriate, or we are sharing things we may not even talk to our own spouse about. The internet is a beautiful avenue for us to share beautiful things. However, at the same time, it is an easy way for the adversary to sneak into our homes and rob us of things that are precious and dear to us. And, unfortunately, we may not even recognize that it is happening.
On Mormon Messages, Elder Bednar warns us of just that in his video talk, “Things As They Really Are“. His full address can be found here. He suggests that when we are examining the time we spend on technology and media that we ask ourselves the following questions:
Does the use of various technologies and media invite or impede the constant companionship of the holy ghost in your life?
Does the time you spend using various technologies and media enlarge or restrict your capacity to live, to love, and to serve in meaningful ways?
If we ask ourselves these questions every time we sit down at the computer, or pick up our iPhone just to “check something” then we will be sure not to miss out on what is truly important in our lives. Our children, our families, our relationships with others. After all, isn’t that why we are on this earth? To learn to have meaningful relationships with those that we love?
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