Timeline of Exposure to Traditional and New Media by BERNARDO

I remember radio being a really big deal with not only my family, but even with the household helpers and drivers as well. I remember listening to it to and from school. What would be on was the news, music, or just a few hosts talking to each other and a guest. There were even sometimes where the listeners could call the show and talk. I think the diversity of radio reflects a lot of how our phones can do so much right now.

Newspapers were my earliest form of interaction with media. I remember happy memories of my grandparents on both sides of the family reading the newspaper in the morning while having breakfast. They would talk about the news that day with me and the rest of my family. Reading it was a great conversation starter.

Because my mom was a teacher, we had a lot of storybooks in the house. She would read these to me. Even when I was playing alone or with friends, I would use these books and pretend to be a teacher. I think this is where my love for books and storytelling started. It’s why I learned to read at age 3.

I had a lot of VHS tapes and DVDs growing up including Teletubbies, Hi-5, Barney, Dora, and others. I remember my first movie in the theater being Finding Nemo. I was always an indoor kid growing up instead of outdoor like my cousins. I also watched the news a lot because, like the newspaper, my grandparents liked to use the topics in conversations with others. I think this is also why I am interested in current events and politics.

The telephone was very important because both of my parents were working so fixing who would pick me up required my participation. I also lived with one of my grandparents so I would call the other whenever possible just to update them on my life. I memorized both my grandparents' numbers and my parents' work numbers as well. I would also call my friends sometimes to talk or ask about homework.

I remember seeing billboards a lot growing up, especially since I lived in Pasig but went to Quezon City for school. The first thing I ever recognized to read was a billboard and I was able to point to it and read it. Advertising is very important as it is designed to be memorable, so I think being an impressionable young child helped me absorb this most.

This was a big source of entertainment for our helpers and drivers. I remember that on the way to school they would stop the car at a stand to buy this. It's interesting how even if most of the stories here are made up or exaggerated, they still enjoyed reading it and even paying for it.

I saw one night my dad playing this game that involved answering trivia questions and I was very interested. My dad made an account for me and added relatives as friends for me. I couldn't use it unless he was there. At this point, it was more of a place to play games than social media, but I eventually started using it as such at around Grade 2.

My parents gave me a cellphone when I was very young. I used it for texting and calling because as I said, having to pick me up for school or during playdates was difficult to do for them. I remember they would always get mad at me for not being able to answer. Even if they introduced it very early, I think it was a good decision because this kind of media helped ensure my safety.

The Gameboy and Wii were game systems that mostly my family and friends had, not me. I remember being so interested in the graphics. It was also interesting how we were all able to bond over it even if it was a one- or two-player game only, the most being four. I liked how it connected those who had the same games but you could also talk about it with people who didn't have it.

I got one of the earlier models of the iPod but this late because I just got my dad's old ones. The only artists there were Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Adele, Bruno Mars, and the Glee Cast. The songs in this iPod therefore shaped a lot of my childhood and I feel nostalgic when I hear them again. I remember bonding with others about singing these songs together

Though my parents had laptops and computers, I never really used it because I didn't have to. It was at this point that I started to do so because I used it for book reports, essays, and for research. I also ended up learning about watching videos on YouTube. This was the foundation of my using media for school specifically and this is still very much integrated into my daily life.

My mom got the iPod Touch 4 and I remember it being an extremely big deal because it was basically a computer in your hands. It was touchscreen too! I interacted with Google, iMessage, and FaceTime for the first time where I could contact other people even being far away. I was able to get new information about so many things, I almost didn't need books! It made life a lot more convenient.

I was introduced to the iPhone in 2011 when my mom bought one for herself. Eventually, this would end up being mine. This is where a lot of my social media was. I could take pictures and videos then share them and even update statuses. It was a very interesting time because suddenly I was connected with the entire world. I even remember getting a few hate comments from strangers. It really opened my worldview.

I got an Instagram in Grade 5 and, in fact, is still my most used app today. I liked the idea of sharing photos and being able to follow accounts dedicated to certain things like food posts or music suggestions. I think Instagram really changed the game because it not only shared your life, but kind of gave you an expectation to look good or be aesthetically pleasing. But I really like it because it's easy to find a community of people who have the same interests or humor.

I got Twitter at first as a fan account and I was able to interact with other fans and even the celebrities themselves. Now I post some funny tweets, food for thought, political opinions, and others of the like. This media is very interesting because it's kind of like a challenge to give a whole thought in just a few characters. I like it because it's very forward and to the point, unlike a lot of media in the past where they can put paragraphs of text.

I used Google Docs starting in Grade 8 in 2015 when we were required to. It's great because even if your computer crashes, your work is still saved; it was a huge problem back with just Microsoft Word. Now, you can share docs with people and you can all work on a paper at the same time. It is extremely helpful for research papers, scripts, and presentations.

I have used this in the past, but I only started using Facebook Messenger at the start of Grade 9 when we finally had a batch chat and class chat. I was truly able to become super close friends with some of my classmates, even those who were too shy to talk in real life. I am extremely thankful for this because it helped build the most relationships in my opinion. This is the newest media I have been exposed to because right now I just use others I've already interacted with before.