Should I Study My Scriptures Using Technology or the Printed & Bound Scriptures?

Similar to Shakespeare's two-option question of "to be or not to be," some people wonder, "Should I study the scriptures with techie devices, or not to study my scriptures with techie devices; that is the question..." Well actually that's not the real question at all.

WHAT'S THE REAL GOAL HERE?
The thing that is important here is not if the words are written in a book or on your phone, but if they are written in your heart. Rather than wondering whether we should be reading from a book or a techie device, better questions to ask then might be, "What helps me feel the Spirit best while studying the scriptures? Do I feel the Spirit more when I study the gospel with tangible text or digital texts? What medium writes these principles most permanently in my heart?"  Or even better yet "Does one way helps me become more Christlike?"

For me personally, what medium I study from and what study habits I use when "reading" influence the quality of my experience and how warmly I welcome the Spirit's influence into my study time... which I sometimes call my daily "Daddy daughter date" to emphasize the time being spent as time that is developing a relationship, rather that merely doing another "to do" in my day's plan.

Heavenly Father's communication to us and guidance for us was never about printed paper and leather bound books, but rather about making us aware of true principles to live by. I don't go to the scriptures "to read." I go to the scriptures to learn revelation/truth from prophets in the past and to receive personal revelation/truth in my present. It's not about paper, leather binding, ink, tablets, mobile devices or gadgets; these are simply mediums for learning His message in order to live it.

USE YOUR PERSONAL LEARNING STYLE:
Knowing my personal learning style has helped me make my scripture study/"Daddy daughter date" more enjoyable and beneficial. If you would like to find out your learning style quickly, this free survey can help.

For example, my learning style is partially auditory, visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal and intra-personal, I try to incorporate these kinds of strategies into my study. So, my best study tends to be when I

• Turn on background music
• (LISTEN) Listen to the audio of conference while (SEE) looking at the words, pausing the audio when I want to (FEEL) highlight something (SEE) using lots of color, etc.
• (WRITE) Writing down my personal thoughts and questions while studying. 
• Set a timer This helps me ensure I am giving time to nourish the relationship and it helps me keep myself "in check" so that I will then get up and go about the other responsibilities and duties I have. I also love this quote from President Hunter about studying for a set amount of time. "It is better to have a set amount of time to give scriptural study each day than to have a set amount of chapters to read. Sometimes we find that the study of a single verse will occupy the whole time."

Sometimes I study using my iPad or laptop. I like the sense of longevity and accessibility to the highlighting and note taking that technology makes possible. Sometimes I study using tangible, hand-held scriptures where I can turn the pages, highlight, draw swishy lines and write my thoughts in whatever color I want to in the margins or in a separate notebook. This just feels good and at times seems to imprint the lessons more deeply into myself. This benefit of "depth" in hand-written notes rivals the benefit of "longevity and accessibility" that studying with tech tools offers. 

I haven't committed myself to one method presently. I would like to use one method for consistency sake but presently the different methods have serve different purposes: digital - it's easy to take notes and save them for forever. It's also easy to search digital notes and scriptures quickly. But when it comes to my leather bound scriptures, they  just "feel good" and I like highlighting and drawing outside of the lines which I can't do digitally... at least not yet.

WHAT DOESN'T EXIST YET... BUT IT'D BE COOL IF IT DID?

It'd be incredible if there was a version of Gospel Library that combined the technology/functionality of Penultimate and Evernote. Imagine the awesomeness - you'd be able to highlight with a stylus and write in the margins in your own handwriting and all of your highlighting, drawing, writing, etc would be text and would be searchable since Penultimate and Evernote can recognize and search handwriting. Um... yeah, imagine that kind of churchy-techie amazingness the future holds... Until then, I'll keep tech-ing it up at times, and writing it out with paper and pen at others times as well.

So to answer the question of should I study with tech tools or printed paper, I would go for whatever prints it in your heart best and manifests itself most clearly in your life after that. After all, that's the real objective and game plan we're going for. It's not really even about "reading" or "writing" at all, but more so about learning and becoming.

A better question then would be His question, “What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27). If one way of studying leads us to becoming more like Him than another, then I think we've found the answer to our question. 

Here's to studying becoming,

Ali~

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What helps you get the most out of your "scripture study" / "becoming" time?

Do you use tech in your studying? If so, what do you like to use most?

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