Erin Spencer Media

My parents' favorite show is Seinfeld. When I was younger, they'd watch it after my sisters and I went to bed because it was too inappropriate for children. I would be in my bed down the hall, listening to my parents laugh and laugh (especially my dad) and wonder what I was missing that was so funny!  Sometimes, if I couldn't sleep, I would walk out to the living in my little nightgown, bleary-eyed and try to speak to my parents over the sounds of Jerry Seinfeld's beginning or ending monologue. Most often though, I would fall asleep to the distant sounds of Seinfeld and joy! Then, when I was an older teenager, my parents felt better about watching it with me, and I would enjoy it alright. Pretty soon, I realized that it wasn't exactly my sense of humor, but I LOVE how much my parents love it. So, when they would watch it, I would leave the room to do something else, but I still heard my parents laughter echoing from the other room and Jerry Seinfeld's voice sarc

I decided to start my technology fast on December 6 th   at 11am. I didn’t think I was going to do it, because I had so much to do and was afraid people might need to contact me, but I impulsively decided to it anyway 10 minutes before 11am. I am so glad that I followed through. Because of that, I wasn’t able to tell everyone that I was off the grid, but it worked out okay. During church, I enjoyed the experience and wasn’t constantly wondering what time I could go home, which is the opposite of my regular experience. This semester, for some reason, I’ve been feeling so anxious when I’m at church and I didn’t feel that way this time. I’m starting to wonder if I should leave my phone at home for church all the time! I’m not sure I will be able to do that though, because they asked us to use our phones so much in the meeting, for scriptures, hymns, etc. One interesting development was that I was a lot less concerned about missing out on things on social media than I thought I would be. I

The day after our lecture on how distracting our phones and multitasking can be, I decided to utilize Dr. Coyne's idea of turning off my notifications when I'm trying to focus. I didn't put my phone on airplane mode, because it trips out my phone for a bit when I do, but I turned my phone on Do Not Disturb and put it across the room. That day, I got so much homework done, and I was so energized in doing it!  The next day, because I didn't have too much I needed to get done, I wasn't as excited about the prospect of staying focused, and I got out of the habit. As I was writing this blog though, I remembered my commitment to stop multitasking so much, and I turned my phone and computer on Do Not Disturb again. It has felt good to be intentional with the focused time that I give to tasks.  I think I might also use my phone to keep my brain awake as I do homework though, so I am honestly nodding off a bit while writing this. But I'm sure that the more I get used to

Honestly, this semester I was so worried that I wasn't going to feel very connected to my ward. In the past, we've had so many activities and game nights and whatnot, but we, understandably, aren't allowed to do too much anymore because of COVID regulations. Then our Activities Committee came up with this idea of a Harry Potter competition.  On Sunday, we had our sorting ceremony. Bishop and his wife were dressed up as Dumbledore and McGonnagal and each FHE group was sorted into a Hogwarts house. My group was sorted into Slytherin, which was exactly what I wanted!!  I recently realized that my name (erin) is even inside of the word (Slyth erin ), but I've never been able to claim the house because I truly am a Hufflepuff through and through (repeatedly proved by online quizzes, including the official Pottermore), and if not a Hufflepuff, usually a Ravenclaw. Now that the sorting wasn't determined by personality traits, I was finally  put into the coolest house (JK R

 Over Thanksgiving break, I watched Season 4 of The Crown on Netflix with my family, which had just come out a week earlier. In the week and a half I was there, we watched all but 3 episodes together. This season talks about Prince Charles and Diana Spencer and how their life started together.  First of all, it's completely heartbreaking. The show does an incredible job of evoking emotions. It's obviously not 100% historical fiction, but it still gets me interested in the issues of the time, which makes me want to do more research into the truth! For the entire time I was home for Thanksgiving, the show was all we could talk about! My sister and I lamented over the pain that Diana was put through as a member of the royal party, and we talked about how awful Charles was for cheating on her continually. My dad got into his "devil's advocate" mood and tried to get us to see Charles' side (I get that he was in a tough spot too, but that doesn't justify cheatin