Elder
Bednar said, “I raise an apostolic
voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and
constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences
upon our souls. The concerns I raise are not new; they apply equally to other
types of media, such as television, movies, and music.” That quote influenced
the planning of my media interactions for the past two weeks.
I don’t usually have time for a lot of outside media
interactions. If I have cyberspace interactions, it is usually to take care of
business, keep in contact with family, and things of that nature. I don’t do
gaming and very rarely watch movies or listen to music. As a family, we do on
occasion watch TV shows on Netflix or television. We do make sure that the things we watch are appropriate.
I think it’s important for our children to know boundaries of good media, and
know when to walk away.
I think by living these
principles, it teaches our children that we need to be aware of what we allow
ourselves to see and hear. My children have learned to pay attention to lyrics,
determining if they are appropriate to listen to or not. We have some pretty
good filters in our home that block material from their device screens, but
we’ve also talked to them about internet safety.
Elder
Richard
G. Scott said, “Some bad thoughts come by themselves.
Others come because we invite them by what we look at and listen to. Talking
about or looking at immodest pictures of a woman’s body can stimulate powerful
emotions. It will tempt you to watch improper videocassettes or movies. These
things surround you, but you must not participate in them. Work at keeping your
thoughts clean by thinking of something good. The mind can think of only one thing at a time. Use that fact to crowd
out ugly thoughts. Above all, don’t feed thoughts by reading or watching
things that are wrong. If you don’t control your thoughts, Satan will keep
tempting you until you eventually act them out.” This is an important truth to
remember.
