technology Archives - Page 2 of 7

Want to Serve Others? Become a Volunteer Focus on the Family Online Mentor

If you love Jesus, people and social media, please consider volunteering as a Focus on the Family online mentor.

It’s a unique opportunity for anyone who has a heart for the hurting. Online mentors are digital missionaries, tending to real needs, sharing the Gospel, and going “through all the towns and villages,” just like Jesus did … except these modern-day missionaries “travel” through their Internet connection.

Focus will provide the technology and training. We’ll equip you to enter online communications and take part in conversations to breathe life, Bible-based hope, and encouragement to people in need.

Topics: Focus Events Tags: events, faith, promos, technology September 3, 2015 by Jim Daly

Three Ways to Help Your Kids Avoid Foolish Social Media Mistakes

One foolish mistake on social media can haunt a person for years. All it takes is one insensitive tweet, a misinterpreted picture on Facebook, or an unguarded moment captured on Snapchat.

Think I’m exaggerating?

A recent article in The New York Times profiled people whose lives have been derailed because of something they posted to social media.

There’s the example of 30-year-old public relations consultant Justine Sacco, who sent out a racially insensitive tweet to her 170 followers before boarding a flight to South Africa.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: kids, parenting, pop culture, technology May 6, 2015 by Jim Daly

Watch Amazing Video of 31-Week-Old Baby Smiling in the Womb

Note: Did you miss out on watching “The Drop Box” last week? Well, tonight more than 400 theaters across the nation are showing a one-time encore presentation of this award-winning documentary film. Check out locations and purchase your tickets online at www.thedropboxfilm.com!

***

If you’re a parent of a biological child, you’ll never forget the first moment you saw your little one on an ultrasound image.

It’s the ultimate look within. Today’s expectant parents can see what tens of billions of couples throughout history never did – 3-D images of their preborn baby moving around inside the womb.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, kids, parenting, pro-life, technology March 16, 2015 by Jim Daly

A Stunning Violation in San Francisco

A news roundup on the issues that matter most.

– The Wall St. Journal’s “A Fight to Keep Catholic Schools Catholic” explains how California lawmakers are trying to prevent San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone from hiring faculty that would advance Catholic teaching in area high schools.

Just imagine: Catholic schools teaching Catholic doctrine? The effort to coerce school officials into violating their convictions is a stunning assault on a religious school’s constitutional freedom.

– Planet Fitness Revokes Woman’s Membership After She Complained About Transgender Person.

Topics: Current Events Tags: marriage, news, religious liberty, technology March 9, 2015 by Jim Daly

Technology Rewires Your Child’s Brain. Here’s How to Help Avoid That

Technology is a way of life for kids. They use it for everything from simple communication with family and friends to entertainment to school-related tasks.

And the numbers prove it. In the course of just one minute, YouTube users upload 48 hours of new video content. Facebook users share over 680,000 pieces of content. More than 2 million Google searches occur. And over 200 million email messages are sent. And did you know teenagers send on average over 3,000 texts every month?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, kids, parenting, technology March 5, 2015 by Jim Daly

Is Technology Hurting Our Witness at Home?

I’ve previously shared how parents can pass along a lasting faith to their kids. In a nutshell, there are two things parents should do:

Live out an authentic, vibrant faith themselves
Help their children develop spiritual habits, like regular prayer and Scripture reading

But as times change and technology brings us increased convenience, I’ve wondered if an unintended consequence is that, in some areas, our digital life could potentially undermine our efforts to model the faith?

Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, parenting, technology February 23, 2015 by Jim Daly

Are Christians Too #Blessed?

Are you “blessed”?

There are many Christians, myself included, who would suggest that by the sheer nature of our Salvation in Jesus Christ, we are, indeed, a blessed people.

But if you asked a room full of people what it means to be “blessed,” I suspect you’d get a wide array of answers.

For some, to be blessed means to have health, wealth and a good family.

To others, to be blessed means to travel the world or climb a mountain.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, pop culture, technology January 21, 2015 by Jim Daly

Helping Overly-Connected Kids Live in the Real World

Our children live in a screen-driven world.

In some ways, it’s been this way for a long time. Since the 1950s, television and children have gone together like cereal and milk.

Who doesn’t remember Saturday morning cartoons?

The advent of video games and the proliferation of smart phones and tablets in the past decade have only served to add to a child’s “screen time.” Walk through a mall or an airport and you’ll see that many children seem perpetually “connected” to an electronic device.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: broadcast, family, parenting, technology October 17, 2014 by Jim Daly

Guest Post: Have You Heard About the “Fire Challenge”?

As I was driving home from work the other day, I heard a disturbing news story on the radio that instantly grabbed my attention.

A new and life-threatening social-media trend has gone viral among teens.

It’s called the “fire challenge.”

In short, teens are daring one another to use flammable liquids to set themselves on fire, quickly douse the flames and then post a video of the entire incident on YouTube or Facebook.

As this story reports, the trend has become so popular that it has resulted in tens of thousands of horrifying “fire challenge” videos appearing online—in addition to emergency room visits across the country.

Topics: Current Events Tags: homosexuality, kids, news, pop culture, technology August 20, 2014 by Jim Daly

Are We Middle School Bullies on a Social Media Playground?

Is it just me, or have you noticed a real increase in downright meanness online these days?

While cruel and hateful words can rear their heads just about anywhere, unkindness is especially intense in the social media world. It seems the gloves can come off and a verbal free-for-all can explode at almost any time. Sadly, this is too often the approach of professing believers and non-believers alike. It can be sparked by even what may at first seem to be the most innocent of topics.

Topics: Current Events Tags: faith, friendship, pop culture, technology July 18, 2014 by Jim Daly