Uses and Gratiications
1. To what extent can we give an accurate report of the media content we con-
sume? Are we always aware of the reasons we choose the media we do? Why
or why not?
2. Consider Facebook and other social networking sites. Have you heard others
express reasons for using Facebook that aren’t relected in the typology proposed
by Alan Rubin?
3. Do you think many people have parasocial relationships with media charac-
ters? Were the people who wrote letters to Robert Young seeking medical advice
genuinely confused about whether he was an actor or a doctor?
4. Think of a speciic example of how two individuals might use media content
to gratify different needs. How will those individuals experience very different
media effects?
