Friday Five: Internet Connections

Friday Five: Internet Connections

Jan is at it again!  She is asking tough questions again.  But there is one thing about Jan--we are about the same age and there for I UNDERSTAND what she is talking about!!!  

From Studio North blog

Jan is at it again!  She is asking tough questions.  But there is one thing about Jan--we are about the same age and there for I UNDERSTAND what she is talking about!!!  She posted:

I have vaguely been hearing about the coming trend of people using mobile internet devices rather than desktop computers. Having four adult children, I see them using cell phones, laptops, tablets, ipods/iphones/ipads instead of the desktop computer, which I am using right now.

So I am asking you to answer the following questions about whatever device you most often use these days, first by telling us what you have:

1. Do you use social connections, like Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in or whatever else there is? Describe how you use 

it/these. 

 I use Facebook.  I have a Linkedin account but I haven't the foggiest how to use it.  I kind of 'like' fb but haven't quite learned how to use it well.  I try to link my blog posts to fb to advertise an article I have written but with the changes on fb, I am not as clear about how to link the two anymore.  And I hate timeline!

2. Do you text on your cell phone? Work, friends, family?

I do text now.  When I started being a chaplain to a local university, I knew I needed to text BUT my thumbs don't fit those little spots on the keyboard.  It takes me forever to text a short message.  I know that having opposible thumbs was a sign of human evolution, but I am not sure about textable thumbs!
3. Do you play any games? Which ones? 

 I play Spider Sol, Regular Sol and Bedazzel 3.  I can spend way too much time doing that.  But they are all on my laptop.  If I play games on my phone, my battery gives out pretty quickly.  WTH is Angry Birds?

4. How do you predominantly use the various electronic devices you possess?

I am admit I am glued to my laptop as much as 8 hours a day.  I write and research on my laptop.  I don't use the iphone that much unless I am stuck somewhere, bored and without a book.

 I no longer have a desktop.  I wish I did because the laptop is tiring to work from all day.  But I do love its mobility for classes and meetings

 I also have Kindle which I adore because it will produce the book in a font and size that I can read since cataracts!  I especially appreciate the old Kindle because it is easier on the eyes than a laptop or the new models of either Nook or Kindle.  

I do not have an Ipad or a notebook and am coveting one.  But because younger folks think that Social Security is an 'entitlement' and  Baby Boomers decided that we could privatize and made off with all the retirement funds I banked on, I cannot afford one. ( If I sound like a socialist, I becoming more of one every day!)

5. How do you feel about blogging? Are you as involved in blogging as when you first started? What facilitates your blogging?

I don't blog as often as I used to.  I do appreciate Revgals that encourage us to use our brains and to think outside the box about what we are doing in our parishes.  Now that I am retired, it is a perfect place to sift through my life and claim what has been good, what isn't about the Church and test out what I am thinking now that I no longer have regular pulpit.

  I have a series called Theology 101 that I am trying to verbalize what it is that I believe.  There is one good thing about being an Episcopalian, we do not have a body of dogma to which we must conform.  This new age into which we are moving allows me to explain to myself and others how my faith is confronting an age in which morality is not only changing but is being blown off the charts.  It helps me to claim what is essential to what it means for me to be a Christian.

I will probably continue to blog because it is a place where this extrovert can get her ideas out and allow others to comment without boring my family and friends.

Bonus: Anything you want to add. You might like to discuss what helps you most in your vocation with internet connections.

There are a few things about social media that are bothering me.  As I don't Twitter, I am a bit overwhelmed by the impact that social media is having world wide.  Recently, I have been a part of an organization that through its internet efforts brought down the Anglican Covenant in the UK and ultimately brought the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign. 

 I am mildly uneasy about such an effort.  I have no problems that what we were doing were just and appropriate, I am just overwhelmed with having that much contact with the vastness of the people of my communion.  I am used to having contact with small congregations of up to 250 on Sunday.  Now I speak to thousands through social media.  

The field of ethics of the use of these new vehicles of information is immense.  And we have no rules.  Now I have to really live into my relationship with Christ to ascertain what is right and what is wrong about information and what I say.  

I know that many folks are afraid of social media and the way that it opens us up to all kinds of folks who might use what we say against us.  But when I became a priest and first lived in a small town 30 years ago, I knew that every moment of my life was subject to critique by the community.  It didn't matter if it was fair or private, it just was what it was.

 If the local banker or postal employee wanted to talk about my private life, they did. I do not fear the invasion of privacy because I try to live what I am.  Yes, others can use such information inappropriately, and they have always been able to do so.  It is no different because of facebook or the internet.  When we chose to serve as the 'parson' of a community we choose to live in a fishbowl.  It is what witness is all about.

Brava, Jan.  I tough topic but ohhhh so necessary!