Word

Technology is like a word. It is wonderful gift given by God. The way of its use completely depends on us. Everyone has access to it, and it could uplift people and hurt people. We need wisdom and to make wise decisions to optimize its betefits. Parents need to teach their children appropriate ways of its use because how they use it affects their character and might determine their future. Engineers are like novelists. They are supposed to inspire people to do good and to make their lives truly better through technology. 

Priority

We do have the ability to prioritize our tasks based on our belief. We know which task we really should do in each moment. Technology just a tool that helps you doing your tasks but should not prioritize them for you. If we neglect to use the ability to prioritize, the tool decides what you do. Do not let other things prioritize your tasks and control your life.

Waste Time

Time is limited. Steve Jobs' death reminds me that we have no reason to waste time. The end of life does not always wait until you do something valuable. Steve Jobs and his company Apple created sensational products and have become one of the profitable organizations. He however, might achieve something even greater if he had more time. Looking back on my life, I feel I have wasted about one hour per day by randomly surfing the Internet or having an unnecessary nap. It is roughly 15 days per year and literary means that I have wasted one year in my life. Nobody wants to waste time if they know that they are dying someday soon. I wish I could live like I am dying tomorrow so that I do not miss even one second.

More Women

We lose many chances to have great future software engineers. Most of the time women do not choose Computer Science as a major. A few years ago, when you thought of software, you thought of a desktop computer, but now software is everywhere. Software is used by men, women, and even children. It is sometimes hard for men to understand the demands of female users, but it should be easier for women. Moral issues associated with the Internet might be resolved by women's influence. We need more women so that software engineering could serve people better.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability catches people's eyes. People usually make fun of it and then leave, but curious smart people collaborate and work on it to reduce vulnerability just for fun. They eventually make it perfect and might create even greater inventions. If you want to create something truly great, you do not have to make something perfectly working. You just preapre something interesting and expandable enough to facinate curious people.

Be More Careful

We might have to read carefully any contract we sign. I'm currently working as a software engineering intern for a software company in Draper and writing code for their product. I remember that I signed some employment contract I did not carefully read when I started the internship. After reading the assigned articles, I thought about one question. Would the comapany I work for would own everything I write? I get paid to sit and write code, so they probably would. I actually do not care whether they would or not because I am not that talented yet. I, however, do care the fact that I have never thought about it. If I was a more talented and experienced engineer who provides excellent ideas that could directly contributes to the company's growth, the fact could have been more serious.

Desire Matters

An iceberg floating in water looks magnificent because the underwater portion is much bigger than the portion you can see from the surface. We write because we have something to express, but we cannot be a good writer if we do not have strong feeling to express in our mind. In the writing process, cutting unnecessary parts and seeking more simple and direct ways to express makes the writer think about the topic at a deeper level. The writer needs to figure out the core idea and describe it as short as possible. If he has strong desire to express the idea to the audience, the idea tends to be more clear, and the way he describes it becomes more effective.

Uneatable Apple

Today, more than ever before, it may seem like people want to have electronic mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Interbrand's yearly Best Global Brands list of this year explains that well. Apple and Google leapfrogged Coca-Cola. When people see the Coca-Cola's logo, they want to drink Coca-Cola beverages. Now when they see the Apple logo, they want to have Apple products. Electronic mobile devices might have strong influence as much as foods and drinks we have daily. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/tech/innovation/apple-coke-top-brands/index.html

Simpleness

Approximately 2100 years ago, Alma, the Book of Mormon prophet says, "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Software engineering which originally come from only 0 and 1 is really good example that explains this principle. Familysearch is one of the greatest achievements. I also think it is very important in software develpoment process in a team. As a software engineer, I always try to write clean and simple code so that other engineers can build on it easily. If it is not simple enough, they might be confused and discard it or use it wrongly. Great things are usually done by a team. Keeping things simple helps communications and is the key to teamwork.

Get To Know The People

It is really easy to insult people you have never met on the Internet, and hard to know who they really are from the Internet. I grew up in Japan and heard disputes between Japan and South Korea because of a complex history of war and politics. The news about South Korea from media, especially the Internet made me think that most people from that country are rude and immature. I was silently agreed with people saying bad things about them. After getting to know some friends from South Korea since I came to BYU, I realized I was wrong and overcame my prejudice. Likewise, people being cruel and unkind to people on the Internet without knowing them are likely to be very ashamed of their attitude when they actually meet them. 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/tech/social-media/twitter-anger/index.html

Better Choice

The word Internet addiction sounds very serious, and obviously most of us are not addicted to it. However, if we miss something better because of spending too much time on it, we get the same result. One day when I went to the BYU Hitlist website, it was closed and said, "It's Sunday. Visit Your Grandma." I remember I felt ashamed of surfing the Internet instead of doing more valuable things for my family on the Sabbath day. I know serving families is the most important and rewarding job since I grew up in the LDS church. However, everybody does not know that. It is really tempting to use the Internet because it is fun and we now can do it anywhere and anytime on our mobile devices. We are responsible for teaching our future generations priorities so that they will be able to know how to be happy and will not need to go to the internet fasting camps

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/08/27/japan-to-launch-internet-fasting-camps-for-half-million-web-addicted-students/#ixzz2dEDEOIDh

More Free Time?

It may seem like we have more free time than our ancestors did because of the benefits derived from modern technology. I believe that most modern technology inventions are intended for saving time, but the more modern technology saves time, the more and more quickly you are expected to do your tasks. For example, if you can send emails from your mobile phone, it will save time because you do not need to sit in front of a computer. However, people will want you to respond to their emails faster and more often if they know that you check your emails on your phone. Technology helps you do more but does not help you have more free time.