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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

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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

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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

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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

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