Yesterday marked the end of my 30-day Social Media Fast.
Here are my conclusions:
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, etc) can be good if you use them for good.
"Make sure that the choices you make in the use of . . . media are choices that expand your mind, increase your opportunities, and feed your soul". -Elder Ballard
If we choose to, they can also be HUGE time wasters, and places used for complaining, slandering, bragging, and hurting others without consequence (or so people must seem to think).
Even before the advent of the Internet, Elder LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles counseled us to exercise caution in using technology.
“The Lord has inspired men to invent these great tools . . .Now if we don’t use them to teach His gospel, Satan will use them to lead the people astray” (quoted in Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple [1980], 239).
- 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?
Let us use Social Media to lift others and ourselves, to encourage each other, to strengthen our testimonies of Christ and His gospel, and to help others become aware of that which is useful, good, and praiseworthy.
In the words of Al Fox:
#usetheinternetforgood