Don't Hide the Footnotes

The other day, my institute teacher asked the class to count the 'F's in 1 Nephi 1:1. It was a trick question, and it was especially tricky for us. There are many 'F's in that verse, but there may or may not be one more 'F' in it, depending on whether or not you count the small, italicised 'F' that marks the 6th footnote in the verse. Most of the class, including myself, looked up the verse in our smartphones, where it's possible, for convenience’s sake, to hide the footnotes. Doing so will remove the many links that you might accidentally tap as you scroll down the page, which would take you away from the verse you were reading and offer you other verses on similar topics. Leaving the footnotes in can lead to frustrating moments when you accidentally touch the wrong part of the screen the wrong way, but hiding them can be much worse in a very different way.

Yes, the linked footnotes can be annoying, but they can also be very helpful. If a particular verse of scripture stands out to you, you can use the footnotes to quickly and easily find other verses that shed more light on the same subject. The footnotes can help you study the scriptures topic-by-topic and uncover insights you might have otherwise have overlooked, but only if you can see them. Because these links can be tapped by accident, some people choose to hide the footnotes. For the sake of convenience, they restrict themselves from the opportunity of even knowing that those footnotes are there. Those people are missing out.

Hiding the footnotes in the Gospel Library app can make it easier to scroll through the chapter of scripture you're reading, but scrolling through it might be the only thing you do. Keeping the footnotes in gives you a way to explore the scriptures in a way that people never could before. With easy-to-follow links built into almost every verse, cross-referencing scriptures has never been easier. In fact, linking from one scripture to another is so easy now that it's possible to do it by accident, but I think that the accidental tapping of links is a small price to pay for the ability those links give us to study the scriptures more thoroughly more quickly. I've made sure that these helpful footnotes aren't hidden from me as I study the scriptures. I hope you do the same.