Technology and The Good News

By Cecil Jones, MBA

Opportunities during Adversity!

Over the last few months, we all have had an opportunity to stay at or near home. Have you dealt with this as an opportunity or a problem? I have had the opportunity to turn off some of the news and media updates and get some things done. We can reach out and communicate with those that we have not talked with, IM’d or texted for a while. What things can you complete (or at least get started) during this period? We have some recommendations at the beginning of this article and thoughts to help all of us at the end.

Free/Inexpensive Ways to Communicate

Some free and inexpensive ways to communicate to others include the offerings below.

Freeconference.com

Do you want to do an online or voice family reunion? Freeconference.com provides the free telephone conference call number and/ or video.

Vimeo

Are you videoing and want to post and share a large video? Several companies offer free uploading of video (Youtube, etc.), Vimeo offers the uploading and sharing of huge videos at an inexpensive annual fee.

Zoom

Many churches, corporations and others have learned and are using Zoom since the pandemic began. Zoom is easy to use and can be accessed by the people that you want to attend your Live session by just sending them a link to click on.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft is going after the team and collaboration market. They offer Microsoft Teams as a free package for sharing documents, doing team edits real-time on a document and sharing information, both realtime and by posting information to be viewed later by others on your team.

YouTube

YouTube is a good choice for quality realtime streaming/viewing. The audio is superb, and music/vocals are modulated very well without adjusting.

Google Docs

Need to share documents? Google Docs provides an online repository for you to post documents and share them vis as link with anyone that you like.

Become More Spiritual

Have you talked to God today? Is this a good time to dig deeper spiritually? You have the time. Use online sites to better understand the Gospel and Old Testament. Sites like biblegateway.com provide easy to understand versions of the Bible. That excuse: “King James version is difficult to understand” is gone. You will find a version that is just at your level. As you know, you can have your PC read to you, even. Excuses gone!

Learn Some New Technology Tools and Tricks

- Emogis – get some additional cute Emojis and icons to send to others when you send your messages. We all can use a smile or laugh right now.

- Signature Lines – develop a stand signature line at the bottom of your emails and messages

- Mass Communication (for those groups to which you belong) – develop and organize the lists of people to whom you send emails and communications to regularly. Now is a good time to send that group message of encouragement.

- Your Phone (No, don’t download a bunch of new apps) – Take the time to click on some features of your phone that you have not used. Be sure to look at those apps that are set to run (in the background). You do not need most apps to run in the background, 24 by 7. Disable them by clicking on them and following the prompts. (Now you know why you must recharge your phone’s battery more often than you would like). Get rid of the unneeded apps and set many of the rest not to run 24 by 7.

Get a New Certification

Is this the time to get a new certification? You may have a little more quiet time. Go study. There are free and inexpensive certifications available. See ‘Take a Free Online Course’, below.

Take a Free Online Course

There are thousands of free courses available. See Coursera.org, https://online-learning. harvard.edu/catalog/free (Yes, Harvard), openculture.com, www.trade-schools. net/articles/free-online-courses (includes certifications), edx.org, udemy.com, https:// www.khanacademy.org/ (for children, even software coding courses), online.stanford.edu (Yes, Stanford). Some of these sites offer free online certifications.

Explore the Job Market Online

When the crowd is going to the right, be sure to look to your left. When the stock market is going down (people are selling), consider if that is an opportunity for you to buy. When you have a bit of time, look at the job market online. Yes, some industries are furloughing people. Guess what? Some organizations are doing even more hiring than before!

Explore Your Hobby

Got a hobby that you always wanted to get back to and becoming engaged. Now is a good time.