Study Journal 6

Nov 19th

• The advance of technology has had a huge effect on the the LDS church is run.
• New technologies are not evenly distributed among church members, especially since the LDS church is a global church.
• Increased linking between LDS church members and investigators via the Internet has contributed to missionary work.

Dec 1st

• Computer technology has allowed the LDS church to coordinate translation of church materials all across the world.
• Teaching translators to use programs that incorporate machine translation into the process can be slow, but it has big payoffs in efficiency.
• Members might be able to access the LDS church's machine translation technology in the future.

Dec 3rd

• Computer technology has vastly altered the way that information is spread.
• Danger can arise in a person's life if these technologies are used for negative ends.
• Although much can be communicated through the internet, in-person interaction is more effective and important to our social well-being.

Dec 8th

• Family history work makes it easier for people to feel connected to their ancestors.
• Revamping the back-end implementation of a server database is worth the trouble if it provides significant gains in speed.
• Family history capacities have expanded as the LDS church has grown.

Video Games and the Brain (Current Event 6)

The article we discussed in class pointed out that research has shown that violent video games are linked to increased aggression. However, we didn't discuss any of the other effects that video games can have on the brain, violent or not. Psychology Today notes that there are some benefits to playing action-based video games that require players to manage a lot of information in their minds and make split-second decisions. These benefits include improved visual contrast sensitivity, improved spatial attention, improved multitasking, and improved mental flexibility, among others. Taking into consideration the effect of violent video games, it seems that it's best not to take a black and white approach to video games and treat them as either all good or all bad. Perhaps it's better to view video games as we view other forms of entertainment, like books and movies. Individual books or movies can be spiritually uplifting or degrading, so we should judge individual video games based on their merits, too.