As a result, people control how much and in what ways media impacts them.

This has resulted in a variety of typologies that classify gratifications into a concise set of categories.

Interestingly, some more recent UGT research has suggested that new media offers similar gratifications.

BIPOC woman looking at her phone

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

The scholars suggest several new gratifications that fall into four categories specific to features of new media.

However, self-report data isn’t always reliable and may not always be accurate or insightful.

Finally, there has been debate about whether UGT is too broad to be considered a theory.

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Rubin AM.Audience activity and media use.Commun Monogr.

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