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Mormons Technology - Mormon Doctrine Studies - Posted: 3rd Feb, 2013 - 11:30am
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LDS Family Time Vs. Technology
Mormons & Technology
LDS Family Time vs. Technology
My whole bread and butter situation revolves around technology. I spend about 16-18 hours a day maintaining a network and doing web design., however because of our special needs son daily family meetings are necessary to keep everyone happy. We look at technology as a help and not a replacement for quality time together.
QUOTE (Church News) For many families, personal gadgets such as MP3 players and cell phones have become commonplace. Such useful devices can undermine family communication if not used properly.
[..]
 In a 2001 general conference address, Elder Oaks said families reveal their priorities by how they use their time together.
   "Time together is necessary but not sufficient," he said. "Priorities should govern us in the precious time we give to our family relationships. Compare the impact of time spent merely in the same room as spectators for television viewing with the significance of time spent communicating with one another individually and as a family."
[..]
 In a 2001 general conference address, Elder Oaks said families reveal their priorities by how they use their time together.
   "Time together is necessary but not sufficient," he said. "Priorities should govern us in the precious time we give to our family relationships. Compare the impact of time spent merely in the same room as spectators for television viewing with the significance of time spent communicating with one another individually and as a family."
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Post Date: 17th Mar, 2008 - 11:54pm / Post ID: #
Technology and Mormons
"We live in the marvelous age of the information highway. The amount of information sent by e-mail, fax, cellular phones, and other means is phenomenal. In fact, there is a glut of messages. The volume is so vast that it is easy to miss a vital message. Serious consequences result whenever we miss important messages, especially if these messages are from God."
(James E. Faust, "Did You Get the Right Message?" Ensign, May 2004, 61)
Post Date: 14th Apr, 2008 - 10:28pm / Post ID: #
NOTE: News [?]
Technology and Mormons
APOSTLE URGES BYU-IDAHO GRADUATES TO MAKE THEIR INFLUENCE FELT IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
See https://www.byui.edu/News/NewsReleases2008/...8Graduation.htm
REXBURG, Idaho - In an address given at winter commencement exercises on Friday, April 11, Elder M. Russell Ballard urged more than 1,400 Brigham Young University-Idaho graduates to make their influence felt in the digital world. Elder Ballard told the graduates their strength and knowledge is needed in a world torn between good and evil.
Post Date: 25th May, 2008 - 2:25am / Post ID: #
Mormons & Technology
"When I was a boy, we listened to general conference on the radio; now with the use of satellites and modern electronic equipment, we broadcast from Salt Lake City to whole countries worldwide at one time . . . using downlinks to buildings all over the world. This came about because of the inspiration that came to the Brethren to meet the needs of the people in our day and time. This is a good example of how the Lord makes it possible to meet the needs of the members of the Church. I testify that the Lord will continue to reveal through His prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, the ways and means to meet the needs of all members in an ever-growing Church."
Ref. (James E. Faust, "Salt Lake Tabernacle Rededication," Ensign, May 2007, 40)
Mormons & Technology
In the last Ensign, Elder Bednar gave an interesting talk about the use of technology. Please post your thoughts after reading the following:
QUOTE I raise an apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls. The concerns I raise are not new; they apply equally to other types of media, such as television, movies, and music. But in a cyber world, these challenges are more pervasive and intense. I plead with you to beware of the sense-dulling and spiritually destructive influence of cyberspace technologies that are used to produce high fidelity and that promote degrading and evil purposes....
....Let me provide another example of disconnecting gradually and physically from things as they really are. Today a person can enter into a virtual world, such as Second Life, and assume a new identity. An individual can create an avatar, or a cyberspace persona, that conforms to his or her own appearance and behavior. Or a person can concoct a counterfeit identity that does not correlate in any way to things as they really are. However closely the assumed new identity approximates the individual, such behavior is the essence of things as they really are not. Earlier I defined the fidelity of a simulation or model. I now emphasize the importance of personal fidelity-the correspondence between an actual person and an assumed, cyberspace identity. Please note the lack of personal fidelity in the following episode as reported in the Wall Street Journal:
Ric Hoogestraat is "a burly [53-year-old] man with a long gray ponytail, thick sideburns and a salt-and-pepper handlebar mustache. "¦ [Ric spends] six hours a night and often 14 hours at a stretch on weekends as Dutch Hoorenbeek, his six-foot-nine, muscular "¦ cyber-self. The character looks like a younger, physically enhanced version of [Ric]. "¦
""¦ [He] sits at his computer with the blinds drawn. "¦ While his wife, Sue, watches television in the living room, Mr. Hoogestraat chats online with what appears on the screen to be a tall, slim redhead.
"He's never met the woman outside of the computer world of Second Life, a well-chronicled digital fantasyland. "¦ He's never so much as spoken to her on the telephone. But their relationship has taken on curiously real dimensions. They own two dogs, pay a mortgage together and spend hours [in their cyberspace world] shopping at the mall and taking long motorcycle rides. "¦ Their bond is so strong that three months ago, Mr. Hoogestraat asked Janet Spielman, the 38-year-old Canadian woman who controls the redhead, to become his virtual wife.
"The woman he's legally wed to is not amused. "It's really devastating," says Sue Hoogestraat, "¦ who has been married to Mr. Hoogestraat for seven months."5
Brothers and sisters, please understand. I am not suggesting all technology is inherently bad; it is not. Nor am I saying we should not use its many capabilities in appropriate ways to learn, to communicate, to lift and brighten lives, and to build and strengthen the Church; of course we should. But I am raising a warning voice that we should not squander and damage authentic relationships by obsessing over contrived ones. "Nearly 40% of men and 53% of women who play online games said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real-life friends, according to a survey of 30,000 gamers conducted by "¦ a recent Ph.D. Graduate from Stanford University. More than a quarter of gamers [who responded indicated that] the emotional highlight of the past week occurred in a computer world."6
How important, how enduring, and how timely is the Lord's definition of truth: 'things as they really are." The prophet Alma asked, "O then, is not this real?" (Alma 32:35). He was speaking of light and good so discernible they can be tasted. Indeed, 'they who dwell in [the Father's] presence "¦ see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace" (D&C 76:94).
My beloved brothers and sisters, beware! To the extent personal fidelity decreases in computer-mediated communications and the purposes of such communications are distorted, perverted, and wicked, the potential for spiritual disaster is dangerously high. I implore you to turn away immediately and permanently from such places and activities (see 2 Timothy 3:5).
....Let me provide another example of disconnecting gradually and physically from things as they really are. Today a person can enter into a virtual world, such as Second Life, and assume a new identity. An individual can create an avatar, or a cyberspace persona, that conforms to his or her own appearance and behavior. Or a person can concoct a counterfeit identity that does not correlate in any way to things as they really are. However closely the assumed new identity approximates the individual, such behavior is the essence of things as they really are not. Earlier I defined the fidelity of a simulation or model. I now emphasize the importance of personal fidelity-the correspondence between an actual person and an assumed, cyberspace identity. Please note the lack of personal fidelity in the following episode as reported in the Wall Street Journal:
Ric Hoogestraat is "a burly [53-year-old] man with a long gray ponytail, thick sideburns and a salt-and-pepper handlebar mustache. "¦ [Ric spends] six hours a night and often 14 hours at a stretch on weekends as Dutch Hoorenbeek, his six-foot-nine, muscular "¦ cyber-self. The character looks like a younger, physically enhanced version of [Ric]. "¦
""¦ [He] sits at his computer with the blinds drawn. "¦ While his wife, Sue, watches television in the living room, Mr. Hoogestraat chats online with what appears on the screen to be a tall, slim redhead.
"He's never met the woman outside of the computer world of Second Life, a well-chronicled digital fantasyland. "¦ He's never so much as spoken to her on the telephone. But their relationship has taken on curiously real dimensions. They own two dogs, pay a mortgage together and spend hours [in their cyberspace world] shopping at the mall and taking long motorcycle rides. "¦ Their bond is so strong that three months ago, Mr. Hoogestraat asked Janet Spielman, the 38-year-old Canadian woman who controls the redhead, to become his virtual wife.
"The woman he's legally wed to is not amused. "It's really devastating," says Sue Hoogestraat, "¦ who has been married to Mr. Hoogestraat for seven months."5
Brothers and sisters, please understand. I am not suggesting all technology is inherently bad; it is not. Nor am I saying we should not use its many capabilities in appropriate ways to learn, to communicate, to lift and brighten lives, and to build and strengthen the Church; of course we should. But I am raising a warning voice that we should not squander and damage authentic relationships by obsessing over contrived ones. "Nearly 40% of men and 53% of women who play online games said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real-life friends, according to a survey of 30,000 gamers conducted by "¦ a recent Ph.D. Graduate from Stanford University. More than a quarter of gamers [who responded indicated that] the emotional highlight of the past week occurred in a computer world."6
How important, how enduring, and how timely is the Lord's definition of truth: 'things as they really are." The prophet Alma asked, "O then, is not this real?" (Alma 32:35). He was speaking of light and good so discernible they can be tasted. Indeed, 'they who dwell in [the Father's] presence "¦ see as they are seen, and know as they are known, having received of his fulness and of his grace" (D&C 76:94).
My beloved brothers and sisters, beware! To the extent personal fidelity decreases in computer-mediated communications and the purposes of such communications are distorted, perverted, and wicked, the potential for spiritual disaster is dangerously high. I implore you to turn away immediately and permanently from such places and activities (see 2 Timothy 3:5).
Post Date: 3rd Feb, 2013 - 11:30am / Post ID: #
NOTE: Informer [?]
Mormons & Technology Mormon Doctrine Studies
Mormon Leaders Speaking to Youth in Their Language: Technology
Salt Lake City | Friday, 1 February 2013 00:00:00 -0700 | For Mormon youth in the Church, religion is not a Sunday-only affair, but part of who they are. So when Church leaders determined it was time to revamp the lessons taught to youth on Sundays, they knew they needed to provide the tools for them to integrate their faith into their digital lives.
Source: United States - LDS Newsroom RSS Feed
TOPIC: Mormons & Technology