I just finished watching a short video by Dr. Dave Walsh of the Search Institute. He’s an expert of many years in media effects on children and the family. In the video he made the point that we still call the pocket-sized devices we carry around with us everyday “cell phones” depite the face that they do so much more than make phone calls. Calls are just one of the things our mobile devices handle for us. In fact, I probably use my iPhone for checking my email more than I do for anything else. It’s somewhat funny that I hadn’t realized this until now.

I am starting to wonder if the fact that our iPhones, Androids, and Blackberrys are still called “cell phones” is affecting our willingness to spend so much money to get them. After all, we all need a cell phone, and if I’m going to get a phone, I might as well get one that lets me throw little birds into towers of pigs (among other important tasks), right? But, in my recently formed opinion, we are not buying phones — we are buying pocket media devices that include a phone service.  So, my question: Would we spend as much money on smart phones if we didn’t think of them as phones? Do less people spend money as often on devices that don’t include calling capabilities, such as the iPod Touch? Something to think about….

The Conference Center in Salt Lake City where General Conference takes place twice a year.

For those of you who might not be aware, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church of which I am a member of, hold a General Conference twice a year. The church is spread worldwide and have a number of difference conferences throughout the year. Some of them are regional, some cover a wider area, but General Conference is for the whole church to attend either in person (it takes place in Salt Lake City Utah) or through satellite broadcast to TVs, the Internet, the radio, and more. It is always a neat experience. At General Conference, our top-most church leaders who consist of the President of the Church (who we also revere as a prophet) and the apostles, speak to us on various topics to help us in our efforts to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. Tonight was the first day of the two-day program.

I was impressed today by the number of times church leaders mentioned the media in their address. Without going through each one individually, I would simply like to explain the general messages I got from their

statements. Simply put, the media is a place where much good can be done, but it is also place where much evil takes place. We must be on our guard. Being on guard means staying away completely from anything in the media that compromises God’s standards. If you are watching something that you know if wrong, walk away. If you hear something that makes you uncomfortable, turn it off. If you read something that brings inappropriate feelings or thoughts, put it away. Its also important, they explained, to not let the wrong media messages dictate to you what you think you should be or how you should act. Don’t let it teach you about your role as a mother, daughter, father, son, friend, a female, a male, a teenager, etc etc… There are better and more true sources out their that teach you about your role in life, the best and most important of all being God himself.

These are the things that I learned tonight about the media. I believe that are true and that they are the right advice for all of us to follow today in our media-saturated world.

*Image from BYU’s Religious Education Image Archive.

*Image from www.flickr.com.

Something I learned recently in my Family, Media, and Human Development class applies well to this situation. Why are we always interested in checking for updates through these websites? One explanation is that it’s rewarding for us to get an update – we look forward to them and are happy when they arrive. Those updates could show up at any time during that day, so we need to keep checking “to see if any have come”. However, if we knew we were only going to get updates on these websites everyone morning at 9:00am, for example, then we would probably only check on those sites once a day, look over the updates, and then leave it alone until the next day. There would be no reason to keep going back. So, if you’re like me, and can tell that checking for new messages, status updates, or videos is taking up too much of your time, try pretending that updates really do only come all at once, and only once or twice a day and see if it makes a difference. I’ll let you know how my experiment goes.

*Image from http://blog.printclick.com/2009/03/23/a-marketing-expert-weighs-in-on-the-importance-of-business-cards/.

That’s how I felt this last week, despite my usually feelings about video gaming. I have never been much of a gamer, and I can not say I am really a huge fan of Rock Band specifically. But video games and Rock Band are something that my older brother and nephew love, so when I got the rare chance to be with them this last weekend in Florida, I decided to jump right in and play along. Wow it was fun! I loved the time we spent together. So, while I do not plan on buying a video games system anytime soon, I am grateful for the opportunity Rock Band afforded me to have a fun time with them.

(Side note: I did find out that I prefer Lego Rock Band over the original game because it included more songs that were familiar to me and fit my musical preference, such as “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 or “Ghostbusters” — not to mention that there is something much less intimidating about a little Lego man dressed like a tattooed punk rocker than a realistic simulation of the punk rocker himself. )

Within hours of his passing, my entire family knew what had happened. Within a day, hundreds and hundreds of friends and extended family had heard the news. The communication came through cell phones, emails, text messages, and Facebook. My dad spent hours on the phone and on the internet planning airline flights for family members to travel to Orlando. I sent emails to professors asking for extensions on my homework. The list just seems to go on and on. I literally cannot imagine this situation without all of these lines of communication. There would have been no way for all of us to come together so quickly, to comfort one another, and the to work together on the planning. It seems to me that through the careful use of these media communication tools, family can feel and be closer together than ever before. Families can be stronger.

This weekend, I am feeling very grateful for and blessed by technology. Let us never forget what an amazing and blessed day we live in!

• Mormon.org
  Offical information on the church’s basic beliefs
• Mormon.org Videos
  A large collection of videos produced by the church to promote family, church beliefs, and good will. Videos range from entertaining to instructional to inspirational
• Mormon Messages on YouTube
  The church’s official YouTube channel. For some, YouTube often implies unprofessional-ism, but these videos are amazingly well done. Please enjoy this.
• Mormon Channel
  24-hour streaming radio with inspirational music, messages, and interviews.
• LDS.org
  The church’s official website with scriptures, talks by church leaders, helps for teachers, and information on church organizations.

This week I’ve been watching church produced TV-spots on the family to get ideas for a class project (see Mormon.org Videos above). After watching almost all of them, I’ve decided the following video is my favorite.