My Part of the Conversation

This time of year, my brain stops being able to roll out extra theological stuff, and I’m ready to just not blog at all. You’ve probably noticed I’ve slowed way down. Still, I’m not looking to quit. So I thought today I’d share with you a few programs I’ve found and use on a regular basis that are free and quite useful.

1. Mozilla Firefox. This web browser does it all, and I really like it. Some of it’s add-ons are some of the other freeware I’ll mention. It has tabbed browsers, so it’s not opening up a new window with new pages, but allows you to select tabs to see other windows you want open. Once you try it, you won’t go back (except when you open a page that only runs with Internet Explorer, which happens on rare occasions). I’m sure you’ve heard of this before.
2. Fire FTP- A Firefox add-on that helps manage ftp accounts directly in a Firefox tab. Very convenient.
3. GSpace- If you have a gmail account, this is a must. It’s another Firefox add-on and it allows you to save files to the storage on your gmail account (2.5 gigs). Great for accessing files you use regularly, but don’t want to continuously email them to yourself or put them on a jump drive you have to carry around.
4. SyncToy- This allows you to sync files between multiple folders on the same computer. I have a folder that syncs with my pocket pc, but don’t want to always edit the files in that folder, because they fit better in other categories. For example, I have a business expense file, a spreadsheet with contact information for all the teenagers, camp files I’ve been working on, and a few other things. I don’t want just a jumble of things in that folder. I want those files where they belong so I can find them easier (expense folder, camp folder, etc). I also want both folders to be current. So, I use synctoy to pair up folders and have the pocket pc folder copy the files from their other locations. This program isn’t highly useful to most people, but is great for me.  It’s even put out by Microsoft!
5. Picasa 2- Okay, so I don’t use this much, but it’s got some great features for quick photo editing and sorting. I also made our youth group slideshow with the slideshow feature on this. You don’t have much control, but it puts out pretty good quality.  A great Google product, put out during their quest for world domination.
6. Photo Story 3- I just found this the other day, but will be using it a lot this year. Lots of great tools for making a slideshow, at a super great price (free).  Another one put out by Microsoft.

Anyway, just paying it forward!

I know.  I’m slow on learning all this, but I had a cool experience yesterday.

About a week ago, an Italian friend that works with a church in Puglia sent me an email and asked if I had Skype.  Skype’s a free program used for voice communication over the internet.  I said yes, but haven’t really used it yet.  So, we set up a time to talk this past Tuesday.

I got on the computer, typed in his screenname, and gave him a ring.  He was near his computer, answered my call, and we were talking just like over the phone.  He even turned on his webcam and I was able to see him as we talked.  He was way across the ocean!  Just too cool!

Then, he said to wait a minute, and started a group chat with several other Italians.  I was talking to 4 other people in different cities around the world!  Just too cool!  I had a headache from speaking all that Italian and listening to several different accents, but it was cool.
I know I’m behind on this whole thing, but it’s pretty awesome.  Especially for something that’s free!

Blaine

Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about the “Myspace” and “Facebook” sites mostly teens are using on the internet. They customize, write, share stories, and keep up with friends on them. There are a lot of scary cases out there right now about girls getting targeted because of their sites.

But, lets set aside cases where people post too much. Idiots post too much personal information. Phone numbers, schedules, addresses- TMI (too much information). But, some of that can be found out anyways. If someone really wants that kind of info, it’s scary, but all too easy to find.

Think of the internet like a shopping mall during Christmas. People everywhere. You can see them, and they can see you. Some people are good, some are bad. Someone could pick you out of a crowd and follow you and hurt you, but not likely. You’re more likely to be bothered by people you have some contact with. So, just like you stay away from real strangers, also stay away from cyber-strangers. Common sense just like you use in public can be applied to the internet. You just have to remember its a real world with real people sitting behind those computers, a fact many people (especially teens) easily forget. Basically, I don’t think Myspace itself is the danger.
A lot of the teens in my youth group have blogs. They have gone in phases, from livejournal to xanga- now to myspace. Early on, they were great places for connection and conversation. They gave and received encouragement, advice, love, empathy, and compassion. It was an incredible community. They were all expressing thoughts and feelings and even becoming better writers. There was a lot of depth.

Now the Myspace thing has taken away a lot of what I originally liked. It more graphically oriented- posting pictures of friends, bands, things they are interested in. Almost all of them have favorite songs playing in the background, and sometimes even music videos showing. But it’s mostly superficial. It’s like lookiing at the walls of a teenager’s bedroom- it shows a lot about what the person likes and what they do, but tells little about how they feel or what they think. Even comments are more like getting tagged and less like being spoken to.

It’s not all bad, but once you throw in all the creeps out there, the innappropriate pictures, the escalating game of posting more revealing photos, the connection to further darkness- it just doesn’t seem worth it. Parents need to keep a close eye on this one. Usually the problems don’t come from their teens, but from people who are on their friends list, a list of 100 people, not all of whom they actually know. They can’t be- and don’t claim to be- responsible for the content of those other sites.

Parents, keep and eye on this. Teens, if you have one, you need to do/not do several things:

1. Don’t leave personal information- schedules, addresses, phone numbers

2. Don’t have anything you don’t want your parents to see. It’s the internet. They can (and should) find you.
3. Don’t have links to friends that you aren’t willing to be responsible for what content they have. That girl with the webcam doesn’t really want to be your friend. She’s trying to make money off you.

We’re not totally helpless to this personal site thing. But we need to stamp out some ignorance.

Last night, I watched something that broke my heart.

Dateline NBC did a story on catching internet predators, called “To Catch a Predator III“. They set up an adult posing as a 12 or 13 year old boy or girl to spend time in chat rooms being approached by sexual predators. They set up a time to meet, tell the predator a set time to come through an open back door at a house. When the predator comes in, Dateline films all of it and begins interviewing. They have actually done a show like this 2 other times, but this time the men were arrested afterwards.

All the predators were men intending to have sex with a minor. Some thought it was a boy, some a girl. There were 50 in all. Some brought gifts or alcohol. Others brought condoms and viagra. The thought that these men intended- well, it was sickening in and of itself.

But ironically, that wasn’t the worst part.

When they came in, Chris Hansen would come out, ask them to have a seat, and begin asking what they were doing there. Most of the men tried to make up stories, but were quickly shown chatlogs of sexually charged conversations they had. Some tried to run, some cried, some kept lying.

But the camera forced you to look into each of their eyes.

That’s what was hard. I have been desensitized to the existence of such crimes that while I am still bothered by them, they no longer shock me. However, looking into their eyes was another thing, especially when they realized they were busted. Many swore it was the first time, some said they would never do such a thing again, it was just a big mistake. They wanted forgiveness.

But there could be no forgiveness.

Then I cried. It was too overwhelming. I cried for all the foolish and innocent children who have been hurt- or could have been hurt- by these men. I cried for the men who had fallen into such emptiness. I cried because I saw the helplessness in their eyes. I cried for the fact that this world would offer no forgiveness. I cried because God must be unjust if he does offer forgiveness. I cried because I understand that my sins may not make me a pedophile, but God is unjust for forgiving me. I cried because I am paralyzed in fear for my precious son who has to learn to navigate this world. I cried because the internet and technology have made such perversions more possible than should be allowed. I cried because there’s no stopping it, no going back.

Warn your kids not to talk to strangers- even cyber-strangers. Eliminate anything resembling pornography from you life. Almost all these men had problems that were fueled and started by pornography. Do what you can to help protect the purity of others.

And most of all, pray that God can use us to help heal such a hurting and broken world.

Dave has been helping me compile a timeline of adolescent internet usage based on popular sites. For example, “the thing” now is Myspace or Facebook. Only last year, Xanga and Livejournal were all the rage. Over the last few years, what do you remember being “it” among teenagers? Here’s what Dave’s come up with so far:

2003-2005: MySpace

2003: Friendster

2001: Blogger

2000: Hot or Not, Rate my…

1997-1999: AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ

1994-1996: HTML/Java based chatrooms

Dave says of these dates: “The dates chosen are the dates that the software/site/etc. experienced its highest registration and overall usage. This is obviously incomplete, but a decently completed list could be of benefit to those of us who work with adolescents as we continue to develop methods to educate families on technology and its overall effect on children.”

Anything missing? Anything dates off a little? I’d love your help on this! It’s actually interesting to think back on this little experiment called the “internets”.
Blaine