The Good Side of the Internet
| In our rush to condemn the Internet and everything dangerous on it, don’t forget that it still contains a host of positive, familyfriendly
tools—some that can help bring your family closer together and effectively communicate the importance of gospel principles
in our lives. |
If it were 1978 and your family were grown
and stretched across the continent, you
might get a phone call on Mother’s Day and
a visit on Christmas, if it were in the budget.
Today families are grown and scattered,
but are still able to be a part of each other’s
lives. You can see kids learning to walk on a
videoblog,
share the latest vacation pictures
on the family website, and read about your
son’s college experience on his blog.
The Internet is also the medium by
which we can support the Church’s effort
to clearly explain our religion. In a speech
given at Brigham Young University-Hawaii’s
graduation ceremony on December 15, 2007,
Elder M. Russell Ballard gave a call to action
specifically regarding the Internet:
“Now, to you who are graduating today
and all other faithful members of the
Church . . . may I ask that you join the conversation
by participating on the Internet,
particularly the New Media, to share the
gospel and to explain in simple, clear terms
the message of the Restoration. Most of you
already know that if you have access to the
Internet you can start a blog in minutes and
begin sharing what you know to be true. You
can download videos from Church and other
appropriate sites, including Newsroom at
www.lds.org, and send them to your friends. You
can write to media sites on the Internet that
report on the Church, and voice your views
as to the accuracy of the reports.”
This speech was given when media
attention on the Church was highest due to
the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney,
but the principles are still the same. Our
capacity to do some good via the Internet is
immense.
Blogging
If you haven’t seen one yet, a blog is an
online journal where you can post commentary,
musings—pretty much whatever
you like. Once friends and family have
the address, they can go online and read
and comment about your adventures. At
LDS Living, we recommend www.blogspot.com or
www.wordpress.com to get started.
A family blog, where everyone has the
password and can post his or her own stories,
can be the start of a family website.
Conversations carry on as families communicate
across the continent or even across
oceans. The distances don’t seem as great,
and everyone gets in on the little things that
make life interesting.
Online Journals
Part of the struggle with what we can now
call “old-fashioned journaling,” is that we’re
not used to writing anymore. We’re on the
computer and, let’s face it, we can just write
faster by typing than by using pen and paper.
Online journals and blogs are basically
the same idea, but your journal is secured
and no one sees it but you. Our suggestion is
www.ldsjournal.com. We have two favorite perks: it’s
free, and if you’re not by a computer you can
send texts to your journal to record whatever
you’re thinking about, whenever you want.
You can also add pictures or audio and
video recordings, and at the end of the year
publish it to a book or DVD so you always
have a hard copy.
Another nice thing about online journaling
is that you can go back and add
comments and thoughts to old entries. How
many times do we learn something that
references us back to an experience three
months ago, but don’t have a ready link
between the two? LDSjournal calls them
“Afterthoughts,” and they’re great for helping
us recognize solutions to problems, progression,
and even answers to prayers.
Photobooks
What if you’ve never been able to get into
that whole scrapbooking thing? With
www.shutterfly.com you can design your own photo
book. Add commentary, photos, and click
and drop onto ready-made pages. You can
also order prints, posters, design calendars,
cards, invitations, and gifts.
Comments and Letters to the Editor
Comments online and letters to the editor
reach a lot of people. If something is being
said that is simply not true, write in. Keep
your comments nonbelligerent; simple
facts are the most effective. If you want to
really stand out, make sure you give the
positive feedback and reinforcement that is
so needed. As a general rule, the population
only writes in when they see an error or disagree,
but much less often to confirm that
something was well-reported and accurate.
Ratings
There are a handful of sites you can
use to review entertainment, but
www.commonsensemedia.org is our top pick. Search
ratings and reviews for new movies, DVDs,
TV, games, music, websites, and books
and offer up your own reactions. Get the
kids involved, too, with a section just for
them. Once you’ve approved something
and they’ve watched or listened to it, invite
them to put up their own reviews. The site
also hosts a family entertainment headlines
section.
To make it really easy, sign up for the
emailed newsletter. In addition to the latest
reviews, the newsletter offers timely media
articles and tips to help you keep family
entertainment top notch.
City Guides
SEOmoz Web 2.0 Awards ranked yelp.com
number one in online city guides and
reviews in 2007. Search reviews on Yelp
for hotels, spas, restaurants, shopping,
entertainment, medical, and even fi nancial
services in any city. The reviews are put up
by people just like you, not critics. When you
find something great—local or on vacation—go in and review it for others.
Family Indexing
If you’re eager to move genealogy forward
but don’t know where to go next in your
own family tree, spend some time indexing.
The site www.familysearchindexing.org provides a variety of
projects volunteers can pull from to help
build the searchable databases that we all
need to find our ancestors. Register at the
site to be a volunteer, download the software,
and jump right in.
Questions and Answers
Run a search for LDS topics at
answers.yahoo.com and you’ll find people all
over the world asking questions about our
beliefs. You can help someone out a lot by
taking a minute to answer some of them.
Defining
Wikipedia is an online collaborative encyclopedia.
Sign up for a free account www.wikipedia.com and
help edit or create articles. You can even edit
Wikipedia content in other languages.
Remember the force for good that we can
have through the Internet and use it. And if
you come across terrific family websites, let
us know! Email editor@ldsliving.com with your
family’s favorite choices.
LDS Living, May/June, 28-31
