Facebook does not want you to leave

Ok, so I deactivated my facebook account the other day and I'm please to say I don't miss it! It's actually kind of a relief to not have the temptation to waste time on there, especially when I have homework to do. 

However, I found it really interested the process of deactivating facebook. First off, it's impossible to delete facebook for good (as far as I can tell), you can only deactivate it. Second, when you finally find where to deactivate your account, facebook provides all these means to try to convince you not deactivate your account. Let me elaborate. 

When you click on "deactivate my account", a number of your facebook friends appears with this above their pictures "David will miss you" "Ann will miss you" "Cody will miss you"...."are you sure you want to deactivate you account?" If that doesn't dissuade you, then you continue on to click a reason of why you want to deactivate your account. When you click on one of the reasons, a little response appears to give you a solution. Here are just a few examples: 

Reason:"I get too many emails, invitations, and requests from Facebook"

Response: "You can control what email you receive from us here".

Reason: "I don't find Facebook useful."

Response: "You may find Facebook more useful by connecting with more of your friends. Check out our Friend Finder to see who you know on the site. Also, check out the Help Center to get an overview and tips on using Facebook."

Reason: "I spend too much time using Facebook."

Response: "One way to control your interaction with Facebook is to limit the number of emails you receive from us. You can control what emails you receive here"

So this is the conclusion I have come to: Facebook does not want you to leave!!!

 

Facebook

As fun as facebook is and as much as I like to keep up with what's going on in friends' lives, it also very distracting! Every time I go on the computer, I check my email, then I look around on facebook. I've recently been very overwhelmed with school, and so I decided to deactivate my facebook account for a month or so to insure I don't get distracted as much. This will be a nice little experiment for myself to if it'll feel relief to not have facebook, or if I'll feel withdrawals (as if it were an addiction). I guess I'll find out!

Children's Books

I've been wanting for quite some time to start collecting children's book. I don't have kids yet, but I would love to have a nice collection of books for them. It was interesting to learn in a class that a study showed a predictor of reading achievement was the number of books in the home (not just the amount of time parents read to their children). The only reason why I have not bought a whole bunch of children's books is the price! Especially the classic, really amazing children's book and kind of pricy. So...does anyone out there have any good suggestions on where to get children's books for cheap? They by all means do not need to be in new condition.

Childhood Movies

Today I randomly had the "following the leader" song from Peter Pan stuck in my head. I couldn't quite remember how it went so I decided to watch a video of it on youtube. What struck me was that while watching it, it brought back feelings/memories from my childhood of watching Peter Pan. I have noticed that when I see a little bit of a movie that I haven't watched since I was really young, that I somehow remember the feelings I had while I was originally watching it as a child.
Do you experience the same thing while watching a movie from your childhood?

Peter Pan: Following The Leader

Things As They Really Are

I love the talk titled "Things As They Really Are" given by Elder David A. Bednar! It really puts media in perspective for me, and also helps me appreciate this life more. If you have never read this talk, I highly recommend it (it is well worth your time, I promise). If you have read it before, I recommend re-reading it. If you wont do either, at least watch this short video segment that highlights a few things that were mentioned in his talk.

Here's the link for the short 3 minute video segment of the talk:

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/things-as-they-really-are?lang=eng 

Here's the link if you'd like to read the talk:

http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4830-1,00.html 

Here's the link if you'd like to watch/listen to his whole talk:

http://www.lds.org/broadcast/ces/0,7341,538-1-61-1681,00.html 

Choosing Good Media

I really do like the youth.lds.org website! It has such great resources for the youth. Under media, I found an article that gave some great suggestions for choosing good media.  Below I have copied and pasted these suggestions (you can find the original here: https://www.lds.org/youth/article/idea-list-choose-the-right-media?lang=eng).

• Always let the Spirit guide you as you make decisions about what to watch, play, or read. Follow the promptings you receive.
• Get software that blocks pornography and pop-ups on your Internet service.
• With your parents’ permission, place the computer in an open place in your home where others usually walk by.
• Check book reviews, and read book covers before buying books. Avoid books that are obviously inappropriate.
• When you go to the pictures or rent a movie, make sure you know the rating, and read the reviews ahead of time. That way you will be able to make an informed decision about whether to watch the film.
• Don’t look at inappropriate magazine covers in shops. Focus on something else so your eyes won’t stray to the section where they are displayed.
• Be aware of the words in the songs you listen to or sing along with. Think about whether the words, message, volume, or beat of the music would be offensive to the Spirit.
• Check ratings on CDs before you buy them.
• Be careful watching television at night when programming tends to be less family oriented.
• If you have seen or heard something you didn’t want to see or hear, sing a hymn to yourself and say a prayer to invite the Spirit.
• Have your parents block channels you do not want to accidentally switch to on your television.
• Avoid gossip stories even if they are in what seems to be a reputable magazine or newspaper.
• Stay away from video games that are violent, immoral, or use bad language. Check the ratings of the games you buy or play.
• If you realize you have made a bad media choice, turn it off, put it down, or walk out.

Media

Here's a 2 and a half minute segment from a conference talk given a year ago about the topic of Media. I like this quote from the talk : "let us be as quick to kneel as we are to text".

 https://www.lds.org/youth/video/tune-in-to-the-lord?lang=eng