The Influence of Media

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.