Day 28: Technology

I am a very visual person. I love looking at pictures and remembering people, experiences, and moments. I remember the first time I started scrapbooking, I was in love! I got to take those pictures I loved so much and put them on a super cute page in a super cute book that I could look at over and over again, much easier than flipping through photo albums with no journaling or extra cuteness to enhance the memory re-living experience. After a while, I got totally bored with scrapbooking! I am not, I repeat not, a crafty person. I loved the end result, but got so bored cutting out shapes, finding the right type of glue to use, and having to clean up all the mess left behind. I did what every non-crafty scrabbooker did and I quit! I stopped with a half finished scrapbook and said, maybe I'll try again someday and I shoved all the scrapbooking supplies in the corner. I was absolutely delighted when I learned they had computer programs that would take all the fuss out of scrapbooking and still leave me with a beautiful page filled with memories.

One little piece of technology out there is called the QR Code. I have to admit that I am quickly becoming more and more obsessed with these codes! If you don't know what a QR Code is I'll do my best to explain it. It is a little square that looks a bit like a barcode. You download a free app onto your phone called a QR Code Reader and then use it to scan the codes where ever you see them, when you do it will open up something on your phone leading you to whatever is programmed onto that code. I have been using them lately in my scrapbooking and love it! It is a way for me to not only scrapbook pictures, but also video. For example, I made a scrapbook page of my brothers wedding and next to the picture of the part of the ceremony where he sang to her I put in a QR code. Now, when I'm looking at that scrapbook page and I see the code I pull out my phone and scan it, immediately it brings up the video I recorded of my brother singing at the wedding! The scrapbook page of the day I took my sister to the zoo now has a video of the polar bear swimming! It brings these pages to life and I love it! I have even started using these codes as a way to help my young women do their personal progress. I give them a page with QR codes on them that pull up mormon messages videos, conference talks, and spiritual songs for them to listen to while they write in their journals. I admit it...I am addicted to these codes!

I am so grateful for the technology we have in our day. I rely so much on technology as I go about my day. I use my cell phone frequently to immediately get in touch with family and friends. I use my laptop for a million different things all day long. I use it to keep in touch with friends, spread the word about awesome programs like Ivy Girl Academy, as entertainment when I'm bored out of my mind, I use it to keep my journal, and do my scrapbooking..I could go on forever on all the ways my computer blesses my life. Yet, I use each of these devices every day without a second thought at how lucky I am to have them at my fingertips. Technology is awesome and deserves to be recognized! :0)