With all this new encouragement to blog and participate in the online discussion about the Church, many people ask themselves where they will find the time to do so.
At the Web 2.0 Conference in April this year, I saw a presentation by Clay Shirky about where people find the time to participate in Wikipedia, blogs, and other new media.
He estimates that 100 million hours have collectively gone into Wikipedia. He compares that to 200 billion hours of watching TV each year in the U.S. alone–the equalent of 2,000 Wikipedia projects a year. We spend 100 million hours in the USA every weekend watching just the advertisements–that would permit the creation of an entire Wikipedia in just one weekend if we just skipped the ads!
His point is that people have the time, but they waste it watching TV. How you use your time is a choice: good, better, or best.
Part 1
Part 2
Utterly fascinating! That is exactly what I find myself doing. I don’t watch much TV, so I use some of that time to blog.
I just started blogging in February, and I have tried to post regularly. Fortunately, I have been writing gospel essays for many years and sending them to my sons. When the Church started to encourage blogging, then I decided maybe I should post some of the essays I have collected over the years.
It still has taken me a considerable amount of time. I have a busy job, and I have found that I need to manage my time most carefully. I rarely watch TV.
It takes time to write the essay, polish it, make sure the references are correct, code the text so it formates correctly on the Internet, respond to people’s comments, etc. It took me a fair amount of time to learn how to set up and design a blog.
We will see how long I can hold out. I have posted well over 100 fairly detailed essays. It has been energy consuming, but ALSO a great deal of fun. I have made some good acquintances and overall I have had a rewarding experience. I feel like I might be doing some missionary work. At least, I am trying.
Simple. Just build it into (or add it onto) the scripture study time you should already be doing. I’ve always loved digging deep into the Book of Mormon, so I started http://americantestament.blogspot.com to do just that. Every Sunday (at least) I sit down and write a post. I try to do one a week, but lately it’s been more. Because I use Blogger, I can recruit others who are interested in the Book of Mormon to be authors as well, increasing the number of postings per week.
I watch less TV than I used to. I still have my favorite shows (I’m a “Lost” junkie) that I watch, but most of my “free” time (after the weightier things are accomplished) is spent on the computer connecting with family, learning new things, and blogging.
I loved this information. I have been a firm believer that you have time for what ever you choose to have time for.
I think that it is interesting how much of the Internet was “taboo” because of the porn possibilities… Now we have been encouraged to use the Internet in positive ways… It is incredible council!
Our leaders are sooooo inspired!