weakness of the uses and gratification theory

The uses and gratification theory is the idea that the mass audiences make active use of what the media offers. The overall idea of the theory is that people are using the media to fulfill their needs (psychological and social) the theory have some limitations, such as its highly individualistic nature. It only takes into account the individual psychological gratification derived from individual media use. The social context of the media use is ignored. For example the environment as well as the state of the media user.

Despite the wide range of choices available to users, they have no control over the media and what it produces. What they consume is solely prepared by gatekeepers and may include their influences and perception. These gatekeepers add to, subtract from and organize issues, subjects and stories devoid of the control from the users.