After reviewing my notes from the Sunday sessions, I came across the talk given by
Elder Kevin S Hamilton of the Seventy from the afternoon session. He gave some specific counsel relevant to internet use and digital media.
- Good, Better, Best: Good activities are too often substitutes for better and best. Satan can cheat us by having us focus too much on a good thing and ignoring the better and best. While he was specifically referring to online hobbies such as social media and games, I also see a way that his counsel can be applied not just to what we do on the internet but how we use the internet's resources. Do we spend our time liking other people's statuses and entertainment posts without contributing material of our own--this is not just spiritual stuff, but also secular posts as well--that can uplift others and contribute to online discussions? Do we use social networking to literally "network" in order to connect with other people and resources to find specific information and share ideas, as we would if we were doing a research project? In other words, are we optimizing the resources at our disposal for the benefit of others, or do we take these resources for granted?
- Simple Decisions have Eternal Consequences: This applies very much to decisions we make online as well as offline, including how we spend our time, what media we use and how, and what materials we share. Why has the Church invested so much into online proselyting? Because offline, it is often simple conversations or events that lead to people finding the Gospel and joining the Church, or in some cases becoming active again after a period of inactivity. Likewise, with online proselyting, missionary work doesn't have to take a lengthy online chat session to convince someone to meet with the elders in person. It can be as simple as a tweet, text, status, or a shared link, video, or picture. You don't even have to be doing it intentionally! As Dr. Burton mentioned in class today, sharing Gospel-oriented materials on social media sites can be as easy as sharing a post about watching conference in your pajamas to get the attention of someone outside the church--because it has your personal stamp on it and not the mark of the corporate Church. If the people who are seeing your status are your friends, they will recognize something you post easier than something blasted all over the net by a strange religious organization. In the Saturday Session, Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela quoted Alma 37: 6-7. In the context of Elder Hamilton's address, this scripture has a double meaning: the simple things we do each day either draw us to Christ or pull us away from him. Likewise, the small things we do to share our testimonies online--or to find answers to our own questions--can make a huge impact on the people who observe our example.
And here is a meme: conference is not complete without the memes, right?
The talk Elder Hamilton gave during conference really useful in addressing the issues that surround the way we use technology and the Internet. It is very important to recognize the ability the internet gives us to share the gospel as members that could be in the most simple way. My little brother is currently serving a mission and many of the young adults/adolescence that contact the missionaries have been introduced and learned more about the church through something as simple as someone on their Facebook account sharing a Mormon video.
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