YA Weekly
“Call Me ‘Ranchito’”: Reclaiming My Identity from Technology
March 2024

Digital Only: Young Adults

“Call Me ‘Ranchito’”: Reclaiming My Identity from Technology

By Lisa Laycock

One simple mistake with my phone was a good reminder that we need to protect our divine identity as children of God.

a woman looking at her phone and smiling

My husband, Larry, and I enjoy eating out at a delicious Mexican restaurant called “Mi Ranchito.” We like it so much that I keep the number stored in my smartphone.

One afternoon, we decided to order takeout. I picked up my phone and casually said, “Hey, Siri! Call Mi Ranchito.”

Siri’s chic British voice responded immediately: “OK, Lisa! From now on, I will call you ‘Ranchito.’”

Larry and I burst into laughter. It was funny. Without missing a beat, Siri changed my name to Ranchito. From that moment on, my smartphone, my husband, my children, my grandchildren, and anyone else to whom Larry related the story began to call me Ranchito. No matter what I did, Siri refused to call me Lisa again.

Identity Loss

At first the situation was entertaining. Soon it became annoying. And as I worked to restore my true name, it became alarming. I imagined the possibility of receiving texts, emails, and snail mail addressed to “Ranchito.” I imagined pollsters soliciting polling information from Ranchito over my phone and politicians inviting Ranchito to vote for them in the next election.

“Over a very short time,” I thought, “Lisa could drop out of existence, and Ranchito could take over my social identity.”

How frightening! Siri, who doesn’t know me, doesn’t care about me, and isn’t even a real person, had effortlessly stolen my name. As I tried to figure out how to restore it, I couldn’t help but think how, if I’m not mindful, I could let technology steal away my identity, reputation, and sense of self.

I also realized how technology’s many distractions can often lead us to forget our divine identities as children of God.

Protecting Our Divine Identity

President Russell M. Nelson has taught that we can protect our divine identity by choosing to act, speak, and behave like a son or daughter of God, a child of the covenant, and a devoted disciple of Jesus Christ.1

As Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles cautioned more specifically:

“We should not exaggerate, embellish, or pretend to be someone or something we are not. Our content should be trustworthy and constructive. And anonymity on the Internet is not a license to be inauthentic. …

“… We and our messages should seek to edify and uplift rather than to argue, debate, condemn, or belittle.”2

With a world of distractions, information, and messages at our fingertips, it’s important that we are mindful about what we do on our devices. Here are three points we can consider as we use technology and interact on social media:

  1. What we choose to do or say on the internet never goes away. Even if we delete it, that information could stay available to others seeking to know us better or even to harm us. What we post in a moment of fear, anger, or frustration becomes a permanent part of our social identity. We can protect our identity by exercising restraint and good judgment in what we post on social media. We can consciously choose to focus our posts, our likes, and our comments on loving God and others (see Matthew 22:36–39).

  2. When we choose to look up and visit certain topics, our smartphone software is cleverly designed to automatically suggest more of those sites for us to view. Constant exposure to information on our smartphones ultimately shapes us and changes us. We can protect our identity by choosing not to visit or search sites and subjects that degrade us or waste our precious time. We can decide to visit sites that uplift and invite the Savior into our lives. (See Articles of Faith 1:13.)

  3. President Nelson also warned: “If most of the information you get comes from social or other media, your ability to hear the whisperings of the Spirit will be diminished.”3 To preserve our divine identity, we must never allow anyone or anything to change who we are by removing our ability to hear our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost (see Moroni 10:5).

Interact with Charity

President Nelson further teaches: “How we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, and online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. … ‘If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy’ [Articles of Faith 1:13] that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication.”4

Our prophet also promises that if we choose to act with charity rather than contempt, we “will arise as a spiritually strong man or woman of Christ.”5 Powerful prophetic promises like this always touch my heart and shape my thoughts.

Thankfully, I was able to get Siri to change my name from Ranchito back to Lisa. But this experience taught me that my most important identity is that of disciple of Jesus Christ and child of God. So I will always choose to allow a prophet of God and the Holy Ghost, rather than Siri, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Pinterest, or any other internet influence, to shape my identity and guide me along the covenant path to Jesus Christ!