LDS Media Talk

The July 2008 issue of the Ensign is now online. (Remember, you can view the full magazine layout in PDF format by clicking “View” on the format bar.)

This is the special issue that David Frischknecht recently blogged about. Find out how to join the online conversation about the Church by reading Elder M. Russell Ballard’s advice on “Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet.”

After reading the article, you may want to consider the following ways to share the gospel online:

1. Blog what you’ve learned and how you know. Start a blog, then write what you learn in Church or in your scripture study, or explain how living the Gospel has blessed your life.
2. Post your testimony online. Write your testimony or conversion story then post it on a personal blog, Web site, or one of the many LDS-oriented sites. Then do it again in your mission language.
3. Comment on existing blogs. Well-known blogs on religious topics, such as the On Faith blog at newsweek.washingtonpost.com are great places to share your beliefs because people of many faiths participate there.
4. Post a video on a video sharing Web site. Join the ranks of thousands who have shared their testimonies and stories by video. Perhaps you could video tape your parents or grandparents and capture their stories too. While there, rate and comment on other good videos you find.
5. Post mission and wedding photos on photo sharing sites. Why not share photos from your mission, your wedding, or your family home evening at the park? Be sure to comment about them as well.
6. Edit entries in online encyclopedias. After signing up for a free account, you can edit or create articles immediately. Be sure that entries on gospel topics are accurate and positive. If you speak a foreign language, even better to do it in that language!
7. Link to good Web sites. If you have a Web site or blog, create a link to other good Web sites. You can also link to Church sites. For example, link to your favorite talk at LDS.org or your favorite video at videos.lds.org. Link to the Gospel Topics section in the Gospel Library that has great answers to common questions, or to other key sites, such as JesusChrist.lds.org or the Church’s site on Joseph Smith.
8. Volunteer with a community group of members. Volunteer your talents in graphic design, programming, writing, translation, or videography.

“…the people began to be astonished, seeing there was more than one witness who testified…” (Alma 10:12)

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My bishop asked me to talk today in a combined Relief Society, Priesthood, and Youth meeting about good resources on the Internet.

I decided to split the discussion into three areas:

• Avoiding the Bad
• Finding the Good
• Adding to the Good

I created a site that has links to everything I showed and discussed as well as the slides I used.  It might be a little out of context since you likely were not in attendance, but maybe you’ll find something helpful there too.  Enjoy!

http://someinternetinfo.bogusboy.net

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Check out LDS Teacher, a new social site for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to discuss teaching and learning in the Church and at home.

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We think you’ll like this new feature on LDS Media Talk. At the end of every post is a series of social bookmarking icons you can use to store, organize, search, and rate the posts on LDS Media Talk.

You can now use digg, Facebook, del.icio.us, Reddit, Newsvine, Google Bookmarks, Ma.gnolia, Spurl, Yahoo My Web, Technorati, Feed Me Links, Furl, and Stumbleupon. If you have other favorites you’d like us to add, just let us know.

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A recent Pew survey finds that although 92% of Americans believe in God and 58% say they pray at least once a day, America is trending away from adherence to specific religions toward a more general state of “spirituality.”

Key findings:

• 78% overall say there are “absolute standards of right and wrong,” but only 29% rely on their religion to delineate these standards. The majority (52%) turn to “practical experience and common sense,” with 9% relying on philosophy and reason, and 5% on scientific information.
• 74% say “there is a heaven, where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded,” but far fewer (59%) say there’s a “hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished.”
• 70%, including a majority of all major Christian and non-Christian religious groups except Mormons, agree that “many religions can lead to eternal life.”
• 68% say “there’s more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.”
• 42% say they “often feel that my values are threatened by Hollywood and the entertainment industry.”
• 45% of adults say they seldom or never read their religion’s holy texts. This includes 49% of members of mainline Protestant churches, 57% of Catholics and 70% of Jews. Among groups that emphasize reading scripture, the numbers are sharply higher. Those who read scripture at least weekly include: evangelicals (60%); historically black churches (60%); Mormons (76%); Jehovah’s Witnesses (83%); and Muslims (43%)
• 44% want to preserve their religion’s traditional beliefs and practices. But most Catholics (67%), Jews (65%), mainline Christians (56%) and Muslims (51%) say their religion should either “adjust to new circumstances” or “adopt modern beliefs and practices.”
• 50% say “homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society,” but the most consistently traditional religious groups say society should discourage it — 76% of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 68% of Mormons, 61% of Muslims and 64% of evangelicals.
• 14% overall, including 28% of evangelicals, say religion is the “main influence in their political thinking.”

See how Mormons stack up against people from other major religions on these and other key questions.

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Teenagers typically feel they know much more about technology than their parents. But do they really understand the issues of security and privacy on the Internet?

It goes way beyond identity theft. What about computer ethics? What should your children do if they stumble across an adult site? Do they understand the risks of Internet predators? Youth often have to learn about the pitfalls of the Internet on their own because parents and schools tend not to know how to address the subject of security and privacy on the Internet.

“Every kid, when they reach a certain age, [should] have ‘The Talk’ with their parents,” said one16-year-old. “We need to have the same sort of discussion in terms of privacy. The majority of teenagers know about the sexual diseases out there because of this conversation that they have with their parents or because they have the talk in the school in sex ed. I think [security] needs to be addressed the same as well.”

A major problem for kids is that they are, in general, far ahead of their parents in terms of internet usage. Teenagers blog regularly, use instant messaging to keep up with their friends, and are usually able to circumvent any computer security measures at school, said a recent panel of five teenagers.

“I think it is hard for the parents and educators because we are moving at a different pace than they are… no offense,” said one teenager. “It feels like we are done and on to the next thing by the time other people are aware of it.”

Some students are still not aware of the dangers of an open blog under their real names that include many real life details. “If you want to give out your first name, then go ahead, nobody is going to stop you,” said one 17-year-old. “But you should know that there are [dangerous] types of people out there.”

The teenagers had mixed opinions on how much should be taught at school regarding Internet safety. Some believed that ethics in the digital world should be a required topic, while others thought that only basic safety should be taught. However, they did agree that parents and schools should be talking about the Internet with their kids far sooner than they do today - by the age of 10 at the latest, they said.

Sometimes it is tricky for parents to balance their fear for their children’s safety with what teenagers may see as violations of privacy.

“My mom has blocked the TV, the computer and I’m not allowed to listen to a lot of radio stations right now,” said one teen. “I really feel like she doesn’t trust me anymore. She hasn’t demanded my password, but I know that she knows it, and I’m pretty sure she has gone onto my computer.”

Many teens easily find ways around their parents’ security measures. Some have e-mail accounts that the parents don’t know about in order to protect their privacy. “My parents wanted to check my computer, so I stopped using that computer,” said a 17-year-old boy. “I use the computers at school. There are things that they don’t need to know.”

The general feeling among the teenagers, however, was that parents should talk about the issues with their kids. “The most important thing is don’t talk down to us,” said one young man. “For the most part, we are not dumb.”

Source: Teenagers want computer security lessons

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In looking at some research data from a recent Pew study, I concluded that we’ve got a lot of work to do in clearing up misconceptions about the Church and just generally making people aware of what we actually believe. According to this study of 1,461 American nonmembers:

• 51% have little or no awareness of our practices and beliefs
• 47% do not have a favorable view of the Church
• 31% believe that Mormons are not Christians

Those are some sobering statistics. When the study asked participants to provide a one-word impression of the Mormon religion, the top five answers were:

• Polygamy/bigamy
• Family/family values
• Cult
• Different
• Dedicated

One thing I noticed was that “Family” is the highest positive on the list. I believe this is partially because of the Church’s investment in Homefront messages over the years. Despite this success, many feel that the message: “We love our families and you should too” does not sufficiently distinguish us from other churches or communicate anything unique that we have to offer the world. I personally believe we should build on the capital we have established around “family” to build on other concepts that distinguish us.

We also need to do a better job of defining ourselves and telling our own stories rather than letting other so-called “experts” define us. We saw a lot of this during the Romney campaign and it was very frustrating. One thing is for certain…we’ve got a lot of work to do.

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LDS.org has a Meetinghouse Locator application that allows users to enter an address to find the nearest LDS meetinghouse. We are pleased to announce the beta release of an upgraded version of the meetinghouse locator application on LDS.org at maps.lds.org.

This application provides many new features not available in the existing application, including:

• A dynamic user interface. (No more drop-down lists!)
• The ability to identify the closest meetinghouses and congregations worldwide.
• The ability to enter address information or simply point at a location on a map to get information.
• The ability to switch between map providers Google and Microsoft to get the best map for a given location.
• The ability to switch between map and aerial/satellite views.
• The ability to see all congregations at a location, not just the residential unit (for example, Young Single Adult wards and language wards).
• The ability to select a ward/branch and get additional information, go to the unit Web site, or get driving directions.
• The ability to provide robust feedback that can identify a variety of issues that can be tracked more easily.
• The ability to send a link to a friend of a location.

Please feel free to try this new application and share it with your friends and neighbors.  Feedback, suggestions, and corrections are welcomed and encouraged by using the Feedback link on the application.

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“As parents, we have to figure out where to draw the line between encouraging and allowing our teens to have autonomy, to experience their separate culture, and when we need to monitor their use of media,” says Kathryn Montgomery, author of Generation Digital: Politics, Commerce and Childhood in the Age of the Internet. She says it is especially important to help young people understand that social networking is often more public than they think. Sometimes monitoring them is the best way to do that.

Sample Child-Tracking Technologies

Software: Various programs can track Web activity and record online chats, instant messages and e-mail. Parents can receive reports and alerts by e-mail and, in some cases, by phone or text message. Prices range from $40 to $100 in one-time or annual fees.

Cell phones: GPS enables parents to locate a child’s phone on an online map. One service will text message parents if the phone leaves a predetermined zone. Monthly services typically cost $10 to $20.

Car: Devices can record distance, speed and driving behavior, such as hard braking and sharp turning. Some pinpoint a car’s location using Global Positioning System technology and alert parents if a teen driver exceeds a certain speed or leaves a defined geographic area. One, the CarChip, costs $139. Monthly services cost $20 and up.

Consider

If you are going to monitor your kids’ activity, it may be best to tell them you are doing it. If they know you’ll be monitoring, they may be more apt to be careful. Better to avoid problems altogether than to catch your kids in the act.

How do kids feel when adults start “encroaching” in their technology space? Read Youngsters not happy oldies going online.

“This is about parents being given tools to better protect their kids. That’s not Big Brother. That’s parenting,” said Jack Church of Teen Arrive Alive, a Florida company that offers Global Positioning System-enabled cell phones that allow parents to go online to check the location and speed of a car their child is driving or riding in.

In addition to monitoring activity, consider easing your children into new technology. If a younger child asks for a MySpace page, consider starting them out on Imbee.com, a social networking site for children that allows parental monitoring.

For more information about tracking your children’s use of technology, see Parents turn to tech toys to track teens.

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Last Friday, Joel Dehlin blogged about Web 2.0. I just found this fun video that makes you think about the possibilities of Web 2.0.

 Want to learn more? Here’s another video on Web 2.0.

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I am a huge movie buff. I love most types of movies–action, comedy, drama, science fiction, fantasy, historical, mystery, even romance if I am in the right mood. The only problem with this love of movies is that I also feel very strongly about not inviting content into our home that will offend the Spirit. Sometimes, it is difficult to know what you will see in a movie you haven’t seen before. There are many times I have debated with myself whether or not to watch a certain movie based on my prediction of what it might contain.

I have found two solutions that have helped make such choices easier for me personally. The first is a website called kids-in-mind.com. This free site provides information about potentially offensive content in movies. It promotes this as information for parents to know what their kids may be watching, but I believe that adults should be watching what they watch as well. I often use this site to see if I or my family members are “walking into a trap” when we go to the theater. Sure, there might be a few spoilers in the descriptions that give away a minor part of the movie but, to me, the knowledge of what to expect in terms of content is worth the risk. The real spoiler would be to subject myself, my wife, and my children to inappropriate content that doesn’t come out of the mind very readily.

The second solution that I have discovered is a really cool product called Clearplay. This solution consists of two elements: 1) a special DVD player and a USB thumb drive that plugs into your PC and the DVD player ($80) and 2) a subscription to the Clearplay filter list ($7.95 per month). To use this product, you go online and select the movie(s) you want to view. The appropriate filter(s) are downloaded onto the USB thumb drive which is then inserted into the DVD player. This automatically loads the content filters into the DVD player’s memory. You can then customize the level of content filtering desired based on several settings:

• Violence
• Sex
• Nudity
• Vulgarity
• Bloodshed
• Substance Abuse
• Blasphemy

These settings allow you to create a customized viewing experience based on what you want to filter out and how intense you want that filtering to be for each area. The thing I like best about Clearplay is that it literally takes the power to control what I view away from Hollywood and gives it back to me and my family. The other thing I like is that the movies are carefully edited to remove offensive content, but also to make certain you can still follow the storyline. This is not an easy task when editing some movies.

One caveat is that the filters cannot always remove all potentially offensive content, but there are always clear warnings on the menu screen when this is the case. Also, I have found that removing all offensive language, violence, nudity, and sex does not necessarily make a movie an uplifting, worthwhile, or positive experience. There are many movies that, even with these things removed, can still offend the Spirit with the message(s) they portray. So this product is not a panacea and good judgment and inspiration are still required.

However, for myself, I have found that these two solutions (kids-in-mind.com and Clearplay) have helped me to take better control of the media I view and have allowed me to enjoy watching movies once again without worrying so much about what I am going to encounter. If you are aware of other solutions for reviewing or filtering out negative content from movies, I would love to hear about them.

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Ensign readers will find the cover of the July issue unique, even unusual. It draws attention to Elder M. Russell Ballard’s article “Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet” (p. 58), which is adapted from his talk at BYU-Hawaii in December 2007. Many Church members have read this talk on the Internet. Printing it in the Ensign gives non-Internet readers access to Elder Ballard’s instructions on using new technologies to share the gospel. In addition to the unique cover, readers will find something novel about the sidebar, “Helps for Home Evening” (p.61). It invites families to view Elder Ballard’s video clip at www.youtube.com/LDSPublicAffairs and discuss ways they can share their testimony of the gospel using the Internet.

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