Patterns of television viewing behavior in Kyrgyzstan: A perspective of uses and gratifications [Kirgizistan’da televizyon izleme davranişi örüntüleri: Bir kullanimlar ve doyumlar perspektifi]

Television draws attention as a very powerful means of mass communication taking up a very important part in social life. Television, when compared to other mass media, remains as a means that presents information to people in an effective and persuasive way without requiring any training for use. Television comes to the fore among other social media due to its audio and visual elements and its ability to create a false sense of participation. Television informs while entertaining. Especially, it presents people with various alternatives not only to be relieved of the oppressive everyday life but also to recognize a dream world and share others’ experiences of life. The aim of this research carried out in Kyrgyzstan is to determine people’s motivations and habits of watching television. According to the data obtained from 583 participants, 5 motivations have been determined that are effective in people’s watching television. In order of importance, these are: entertainment-relaxation, escape from social interaction, companionship, information seeking and pastime. The gender of the participants, the number of televisions at home, the frequency of watching television, and motivations for watching television are the basic variables that determine the duration of watching television. © 2015, Ahmet Yesevi University. All rights reserved.