Search

Results

Unlimited Internet access, limited family time

21 Jun 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord "set limits" on the sea at the time of creation, we hear in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Job. Families will need to set limits on the amount of time they spend online if they hope to spend more time together, said a new study, which suggests that a sharp decline in family togetherness coincides with a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks. The Annenberg Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California reported this week that 28 percent of the Americans it interviewed last year said they have been spending less time with members of their households. That's nearly triple the 11 percent who said that in 2006. Michael Gilbert, a senior fellow at the center, said people report spending less time with family members just as social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are booming, along with the importance people place on them. Five-year-old Facebook's active user base, for example, has surged to more than 200 million, up from 100 million last August. Meanwhile more people say they are worried about how much time kids and teenagers spend online. In 2000, when the center began its annual surveys on Americans and the Internet, only 11 percent of respondents said that family members under 18 were spending too much time online. By 2008 that number grew to 28 percent. In the first half of the decade, people reported spending an average of 26 hours per month with their families. By last year, however, that shared time had dropped by more than 30 percent, to about 18 hours. "Most people think of the Internet and [our] digital future as boundless, and I do, too," Gilbert said. But, he added, "it can't be a good thing that families are spending less face-to-face time together. Ultimately it leads to less cohesive and less communicative families." Source: An article by Barbara Ortutay for Associated Press

internet facebook social network michael gilbert annenberg center for the digital future families

Restricted
Gorillas in the cyber mist

18 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord is "our help and our shield," the psalmist says this Sunday. Endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda, who need to be protected from environmental degradation and shielded from poachers, now have a new ally in the form of a high-tech website that allows those who are unable to make a trek to the Dwindi Impenetrable Forest to get a good look at the gorillas living there. Not everybody can afford the $500 price tag for a real gorilla trek, but thanks to the fiber-optic tentacles of globalization anyone can watch a mother grooming her children, juvenile males fighting for dominance, or even feel the rush of being charged by a 500-pound silverback male, said promoters of a new conservation fundraising campaign. Joining the "Friend a Gorilla" website campaign will give users access to videos, pictures, and rangers' blogs on websites such as Facebook and Twitter. They will also be able to follow their new friends via satellite tracking, said Moses Mapesa Wafula, head of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. "By paying one dollar to Friend a Gorilla, everybody contributes to the conservation of this species." Organizers said the campaign is the first time social networking has been harnessed for conservation and hope it will generate $100,000 in the first three months and a further $350,000 within the first year. Source: An article by Hereward Holland for Reuters

uganda mountain gorillas dwindi impenetrable forest friend a gorilla moses mapesa wafula uganda wildlife authority social networking

Restricted
Young women face social network addiction

11 Jul 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Psalm 69 urges us to “turn to the Lord” in our need. Young women ages 18-34 increasingly turn to Facebook and other social media to fulfill their communication needs, a new study reveals. Many confess to being “Facebook addicts." More than half of young women, 57 percent, say they talk to people online more than face-to-face, the survey found. A full 39 percent proclaim themselves Facebook addicts, while 34 percent of young women make Facebook the first thing they do when they wake up, even before brushing their teeth or going to the bathroom. Perhaps most astonishing, according to the survey conducted by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research, is the fact that 21 percent admit checking Facebook in the middle of the night. The study sampled the habits of 1,605 adults using social media in May and June of this year in an attempt to analyze their social media habits. Among other findings: 63 percent use Facebook as a networking tool; 42 percent think it’s OK to post photos of themselves intoxicated; 79 percent are fine with kissing in photos; 58 percent use Facebook to keep tabs on “frenemies”; and 50 percent are fine with being Facebook friends with complete strangers. Source: A blog post by Ben Parr for Mashable.com

women facebook social networking young adults

Restricted
Are we screening out community with our time online?

08 Aug 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be,” Jesus says to his disciples in this Sunday’s gospel. When it comes to online activity, Americans increasingly treasure mobile communication devices and social networks, according to research results released this week. What Americans Do Online, a report released Monday by the media research firm Nielsen, says that use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter has increased 43 percent in the past year and that they now take up more than a third of time spent online. As for the device of choice, smart phones (those with internet and text capabilities) that utilize Google’s mobile Android operating system appear to have supplanted Research in Motion (RIM)’s Blackberry and Apple’s iPhone as the most popular smart phones in the U.S., says market research company Canalys. According to the Canalys study, Google controls 34 percent of the market compared to RIM's 32 percent and Apple's 21.7 percent. That's not to say that Apple or RIM is posting financial losses. In fact, Apple grew 61 percent in sales year-to-year and RIM grew 41 percent. Part of the overall industry growth is explained by the exploding popularity of smart phones as the preferred method for online communication. Overall smart phone sales rose 64 percent on a year-to-year basis. As for what people do once they are online, within a few years social networks may supplant email as the number one activity. "The rise of social networking hasn't pushed email and instant messaging into obscurity just yet. Although both saw double-digit declines in share of time, email remains as the third heaviest activity online . . . while instant messaging is fifth," said the report from Nielsen. Behind all the numbers lie some larger questions: What does all this time spent online and in front of screens say about us as a society? Are we becoming more isolated and removed from one another as we become more attached to our gadgets and screens? What happens to personal interactions and the sense of community in the meantime? And how do we find a balanced way to enjoy the benefits of the new technology without getting swept away by it? Source: Articles by Jason Mick for DailyTech.com and Tim Conneally for Betanews.com

twitter facebook social network smart phones nielsen canalys

Restricted
The online face of depression

03 Apr 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The reading from the Letter to the Ephesians this Sunday encourages us to “try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” but to “take no part in . . . fruitless works.” Trying to please their popular peers on Facebook may be a fruitless task for teens with low self-esteem and also contribute to teen depression, doctors warn. Researchers disagree on whether such depression is simply an extension of depression some kids feel in other circumstances or a distinct condition linked with using the online site. But there are unique aspects of Facebook that can make it a particularly tough social landscape to navigate for kids already dealing with poor self-esteem, said Dr. Gwenn O'Keeffe, a Boston-area pediatrician and lead author of new American Academy of Pediatrics social media guidelines. With in-your-face friends' tallies, status updates, and photos of happy-looking people having great times, Facebook pages can make some kids feel even worse if they think they don't measure up, said O’Keefe. "Facebook is where all the teens are hanging out now. It's their corner store," O'Keeffe said. The benefits of kids using social media sites like Facebook shouldn't be overlooked, she added, such as connecting with friends and family, sharing pictures, and exchanging ideas. “A lot of what's happening is actually very healthy, but it can go too far.” Dr. Megan Moreno, a University of Wisconsin adolescent medicine specialist who has studied online social networking among college students, said using Facebook can enhance feelings of social connectedness among well-adjusted kids but can have the opposite effect on those prone to depression. At the same time, she cautioned, parents shouldn't get the idea that using Facebook "is going to somehow infect their kids with depression." The new guidelines urge pediatricians to encourage parents to talk with their kids about online use and to be aware of Facebook depression, cyber bullying, “sexting,” and other online risks. The academy notes that online harassment "can cause profound psychosocial outcomes," including suicide. The widely publicized suicide of a 15-year-old Massachusetts girl last year occurred after she'd been bullied and harassed in person and on Facebook. Source: Articles by Lindsey Tanner for Associated Press and Larry Magid for HuffingtonPost.com

teenagers facebook social networking teens depression self-esteem gwenn okeeffe megan moreno

Restricted
The online face of religion

11 Sep 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The challenge” on this 10th anniversary of 9/11 “is to present Jesus' call to live in the land of reconciliation and forgiveness as a truly courageous and difficult path,” counsels this week’s “Who’s Listening?” reflection for PrepareTheWord. One enterprising diet doctor presents Jesus’ words to followers on Facebook four or five times a day as a way to encourage people, he said. As it turns out, his audience is the most highly engaged on Facebook, far surpassing marketing efforts by celebrities and sports teams. The doctor, Aaron Tabor, 41, grew up watching his father preach at churches in Alabama and North Carolina, and his Facebook creation is called the Jesus Daily. He started it in April, 2009, he said, as a hobby shortly after he began using Facebook to market his diet book and online diet business. For the last three months, more people have “Liked”--8,481,046 as of today--commented, and shared content on the Jesus Daily than on any other Facebook page, according to a weekly analysis by AllFacebook.com, an industry blog. The page also has foreign-language versions. The page features pictures of Jesus dressed as a shepherd and is updated daily with biblical quotes, prayers, and reflections. While it’s too early to say that social media have transformed the way people practice religion, the number of those discussing faith on Facebook has significantly increased in the last year, according to company officials. More than 43 million people on Facebook are fans of at least one page categorized as religious. Sources: Articles by Jennifer Preston for the New York Times and Dan Gilgoff for CNN Religion Blog

religion jesus facebook social networks jesus daily aaron tabor

Restricted
Pope has us all a-twitter

17 Nov 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Not that it is anything to be proud about—remember Yahweh’s promise that the proud “will be stubble”—but Pope Francis was deemed the most-talked-about person on the planet according to an annual survey that tracks top online talkees.The Global Language Monitor, a Texas-based tracking company, says that “their rankings are based on an analysis of English-language blogs, social media, and 275,000 electronic and online news media,” according to the CNN belief blog.Other names among the top five: 2. Obamacare; 3. the National Security Agency; 4. Edward Snowden; 5. Kate Middleton.Homily hint: Let's keep the momentum going: Talk about your faith with others; share stories about the goodness and kindness you’ve experienced in your life and how that has given you hope; follow what the pope is saying and try to incorporate more mercy and justice in your treatment of others. Source: An article by Daniel Burke for the CNN Belief Blog

Pope Francis social networking world wide web internet tracking global language monitor popes popularity

Restricted
Fewer Americans losing their jobs

12 Apr 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the early church, “there was no needy person among them,” the reading from the Acts of the Apostles this Sunday informs us, as the first believers cheerfully relinquished “mine” for “ours.” In modern times, those in need due to job loss apply for unemployment benefits. The good news is that the past month has seen the lowest number of such applications in almost 15 years, signaling continued strength in the U.S. labor market and economy. Homily hint: Our “social net” is a set of public programs designed to assist those facing economic challenges as they try to make a better life for themselves and loved ones. In many ways it is based on biblical values of community love and charity. Let’s make sure that this net remains intact—we never know when it might be one of us who needs support. For more on unemployment claims, see: Jobless Claims in U.S. Over Past Month Lowest in 15 Years

Charity christian values joblessness social net

Restricted