There are many reasons why people watch television including entertainment, to get information, to keep up with fashion and trends among others. Theorists have proposed some theories to explain why people watch television and why people interpret what they watch the way they do. Theories that explain this phenomenon include the uses and gratification theory, the hypodermic needle model and the reception theory. The theories offer divergent perspectives on why people watch television and although the perspectives and in opposition to each other they offer good insight on the subject matter. The three theories are the focus of this paper so they are used to offer insight on the reasons people watch television.
The uses and gratification theory proposes that users of media are not passive consumers of whatever is fed to them. Instead the theory proposes that people actively choose media that will gratify that needs depending on what those needs are be it relaxation, expansion of knowledge or social interaction (Whiting & Williams, 2013). Therefore, according to the theory, one will only choose a media if it will gratify his or her needs. According to the tenets of the theory, the consumer of media does not passively take what is fed to them but rather they have clear intent for the media.
If we use the uses and gratification model to explain why people watch television we arrive at the explanation that television satisfies the need that they seek from media. The theory