My Media Uses and Gratification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

My Media Uses and Gratification - Essay Example In other words, people from all walks of life seek to gratify their needs in line with surveillance or information, personal identity, personal relationships or integration and social interaction, and diversion or entertainment (Marris and Thornham 258). All of these are integral parts of my media uses and gratification discussed in the following sections. Presented in this paper is the analysis of how my media use can illustrate the uses and gratifications theory with alternate perspective of magic bullet theory. Watching television Uses and gratifications theory There are many reasons why I need to watch television. I have personal desires that could be addressed if I watch the television. I could be entertained. It can relax me at some certain level and it is a form of recreation activity for me, and including the people around. In other words, television can address my affective needs which include emotions and pleasures. People have varying emotional needs and watching televisio n seems to gratify them. The very example is watching television that may substantially result to emotional release or sexual arousal. People can cry with sentimental soup opera or be sexually aroused with TV programs with depiction of highly erotic scenes. The above illustration shows that watching television is a form of activity that gratifies one’s specific needs as motivated by personal desire. This also shows that people have significant things to do with television based on gratifying their needs. There are different reasons or intentions why watching television is a must for some people. At some point, television could be a source of information like TV news report or weather forecast, current affairs and live events around the world including popular sports. As for me, watching television is also a source of information. I watch television in order to be also updated with the current economic, political and social status of the country and around the world. In other words, television also helps me gratify my cognitive needs. Magic bullet theory These are specific things I need from watching television, but along the way there are also other things that I encountered which are not integral parts of my needs. For example, commercial advertisements give me specific idea about the latest trend in fashion. Although I also have personal integrative needs, I am not expecting to find them out from watching television. Watching commercial advertisements from television increases my ideas on the latest fashion trends, diet techniques and many more. In other words, it is in this aspect that I am being influenced by the television because it was not my desire to find my needs for fashion trend or diet in there. This is the main point of the magic bullet theory, which states that the audience is substantially influenced by the media due to their being passive and communication has powerful effect on attitudes and behaviors (Kelly 352). It is therefore impor tant to point out that apart from my personal needs as what motivate me to watch television; there are other personal needs that could be addressed by it outside of my innermost desire or intention. It is at this point that television has substantially influenced me not because of my desire to find my needs fulfilled by it, but because it has specifically just informed me beyond my desire