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6 years old
Television. When I was a kid, I’d always love watching cartoons on the television, and so it was naturally the first kind of media I was exposed to during the age of 6. I recall watching shows like Regular Show and Adventure Time whenever I had the time. -
7 years old
Radio.
When riding the car, this was the first time I was exposed to radio. Specifically, the FM radio back in Bahrain. Most of the time, it would play music, although there are times where some people would talk over the music. -
8 years old
Online videos. My brother had suggested me to watch PewDiePie on youtube instead of watching cartoons, and so I explored more into it and then it led me to watching videos on Youtube. -
9 years old
Video games. I was starting to get bored of just consuming entertainment like watching or hearing, and so I decided to explore the web for games I could play and that’s where I started playing video games like Minecraft, Warframe, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and more. -
10 years old
Books. Back in Grade 5, my friends had invited me to go to the library with them, and I saw a book that interested me. It was the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and it caught my interest because of the pictures, but the story was also interesting. -
11 years old
Podcasts. Getting older, I was getting busier, and so I couldn’t make more time for reading or a finishing a whole book, but I still wanted a form of entertainment that didn’t require me to do much and just listen, and I discovered podcasts. They act like audiobooks for me but they helped me relax. -
12 years old
Online messaging platforms. I wasn’t seeing any of my friends, since most of them were in vacation in other countries. Naturally, I felt lonely. Gladly, my friends had reached out to me about an online messaging platform they had been using, Discord, and so I made an account and started talking to them there and started socializing with strangers. -
13 years old
Online music streaming. I was getting back into learning piano during my Grade 8 days, and whenever I didnt have access to my piano to play my favourite songs, I’d usually open spotify to listen to the songs I want to listen to -
14 years old
Watching shows online. It was summer break and I had nothing else to do with my time, and so I asked my sister if I could borrow her Netflix account and so I started binging Breaking Bad. -
15 years old
Online blogging. I was exploring the web about some certain topics and then I found Reddit, where I started to dig deep into where people would post blogs about their interests and such, and sometimes I’d see arguments unfold in the blogs. -
16 years old
Video shorts. On instagram, my friend sent me an instagram reel, and wanting to reciprocate the gesture, I started sending him some reels too. I started getting addicted to scrolling through tiktok and instagram reels, scrolling through videos to waste my time. -
17 years old
Online news articles. I had a research subject coming up, and so I had to prepare and search about topics that I could make my research about. I went into a deep dive throughout articles, most notable news articles. Eventually, even after my research subject, I found myself reading news articles on the daily. -
18 years old
Online shopping. Coming to the Philippines, my relatives had told me about Shopee. I downloaded the app and I went on a shopping spree, since I couldn’t believe the deals. I ended up using my allowance due to advertising. -
Reflection
Looking back throughout the years, I have noticed that I’ve been exposed to various kinds of media, discovering a new kind of offline or online media with each year of my life ever since I was 6 until now. It has benefited my life in a multitude of ways, one of the benefits being improving both my speaking and communication skills through listening to podcasts and messaging other people online have allowed me to adapt to the way they speak.