Uses and Gratification Theory

The 'Uses and Gratification' theory proposes the idea that the audience has a set of needs, which the media meet in one form or another.

The first being division, which means a form of escape or release from everyday pressures, whether its a long day at work or school, this part of the uses and gratification theory suggests that we all need a moment to escape from the strain that everyday life can bring us. This could be through things like social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook, trips to the cinema to watch the latest films out, watching your favourite television programmes, listening to your favourite radio stations, going on video sharing sites like Youtube and Daily Motion, reading your favourite newspaper/ magazine and playing video games.

The second is through surveillance, this means information which tells you 'what's currently going on' in the world. There are many ways in which this is done, one being through E-Mails which is a fast and efficient way of sending news around and in the current fast paced world is probably the most common way of sending news around, another way is again through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter which are set up in a way which allows this to be done hence why they are called social-networking sites. One other way is through magazines and newspapers which are especially good in telling you about 'what's going on' based on your preference of the newspaper/ magazine. For example if you're interested in finding out about what certain celebrities are getting up to gossip magazines like now! and heat magazine might be better suited than you rather than a broadsheet newspaper like The Guardian or The Daily Telegraph. Also television can be used as well. BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and five have constant news updates running through out the day, as well as television programmes like BBC Breakfast, Daybreak and T4.


The third is through 'personal' meaning you yourself, this allows you to compare your own life with the characters or situations that you are seeing on screen. Not only does this let us have more of a connection with what's on,it also puts the situations on screen into are own personal life so its almost as if what ever was going on, on the screen is a real life situation that we are apart of.


The fourth and final form is by personal identification. This is in which the media help you portray and convey you're own ideas and views of the world. This is a less obvious form as people often enough do not even realise the ways in which the media influence us. For example if we see a poster of obese person eating at McDonald's are first thought will be that McDonald's is bad for you and therefore might make us portray are own view that McDonald's is not good for you and you shouldn't eat it.


In my opinion the one that is needed most is Personal Identification because it actually effects that way that we ourselves think and how we see the world rather than what someone else thinks. The second one I deem most important is Division mainly because I think it is very important that we as human beings get time to ourselves to enjoy ourselves and delve into a completely different world for a bit which relieves us from the stress and pressures that we face in our own. The need I think is the third most important is Surveillance, this is because I think in such a big world it is important to know and understand what is going around you. Finally the need i deem least important is Personal,, although I still think it is important I don't think it is as essential as all the others.