Yesterday I led a discussion at church with a group of parents about media and technology use in our families. We talked about the necessity of helping our children make good decisions and setting boundaries when it comes to our use of technology. Looking at the media culture through a parent’s eyes can be very intimidating. There is so much out there, in the Digital Wild West that can hurt our children in both the long and short-term. How do we help them navigate this world and take advantage of the exciting and creative opportunities that come with the ever evolving technological advances?
       Specifically we talked about issues of privacy and young people's tendencies to over-share before they think through the consequences for themselves and others. As a media culture we are becoming more and more desensitized to sharing information and images that maybe on further reflection is not our information to share. But we, and that includes adults too, never get to the stage of reflection. We just share and move on. 
       This became clear to me again when a friend showed me an interesting blog post about the lack of privacy on social media and people's willingness to re-post or share anything. The blogger's post was thought-provoking. He wrote about the irony of the Twitter image that is circulating of Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook. Zuckerberg is reportedly not happy that this image of him with his family has gone viral without his permission. The blogger wrote about the reality of our lack privacy on social media. And yet, this blogger included the picture of Zuckerberg in his post - seemingly with delight. In participating in that same forwarding and digital sharing, I think he is guilty of digital gossip. That is what this type is sharing is - gossip. His blog would be just as interesting without the picture. But it is more titillating with it.
       We need as a culture to slow down a bit when we engage in such instance gratification media. As parents, a good rule of thumb to share with your children is: hold yourself accountable for the same behaviors in your digital communication as you do with face-to-face communication. Online gossip can easily turn into bullying or harassment. All adults, whether we are parents or not, need to model that same rule of thumb in our own behavior.
       Finally, as people of faith, this is one more way we are counter-cultural. We value hospitality and community. We seek to include and give voice to the outcast and marginalized.
If those are our values in all areas of our lives, can we:

• model grace-filled behavior in regard to social media?
• be leaders when it comes to slowing down and thinking about the information and images we propagate?

       Even in this "small" way, we can be about the business of creating and maintaining compassionate digital and face-to-face communities - for our children and ourselves.

~Pam

CULTIVATE
     To me it means a partnership with creation: nurturing and bringing out what is underneath. I like this picture because it shows just as much activity and growth in places you can't see as well as places that are visible. For me, I know something has already been planted and I am helping it grow. In growth there are times of dormancy when the growth is about nurturing it's potential. Then the potential transforms into movement and action, many times with an unexpected result.
   So this year I will build on what I learned in my year of challenge: the importance in my life of creativity, quiet, prayer, physical activity, and surrounding myself in creation will all play a part. In much of the art I created last year, images of growth had a prominate place. I am eager to see and feel and experience that growth in 2013.