I read Bednar's talk "Things As They Really Are"
I loved it.
I love that it drew attention to how important our bodies were. It was an interesting way to talk about the internet, I had never considered it being a tool to forget our physical existence before. Our bodies are a gift from God. A gift. We need to realize the importance of them and not miss out on using them. We can't idle away our time forgetting we exist...
I taught my friends who have a little baby.
They use the internet regularly but did not know much about keeping their child safe once he is old enough to use the internet. They have never really encountered cyber bullying so it was never something they thought about. I watched a video on cyber bullying and read tips to keep your child safe from NetSmartz.org. I taught them the tips that I learned. Some of the important things I taught from those tips are:
-Do not respond to the rude or harassing emails or messages
-Delete an email account that is being harassed and get a new one only for those you trust.
-And most importantly, don't forget about the local authorities and your Internet Service Provider to get things removed like bullying websites.
I think after giving these tips, they moved more into the paranoid side of the spectrum and asked questions like, "Well, how do I make
sure they're not responding!?"
I told them the best thing they can do is teach correct principles and have faith that their babies will govern themselves (just like Joseph Smith taught).
They calmed down some after that but still felt afraid of letting their child on the internet at all.
In the end, they decided to send their baby to Narnia where the internet is much safer.
But, hopefully they learned something if their child eventually does use the internet. I gave them NetSmartz.org as a resource for them to find out more.
