Abstract
Social media platforms are increasingly perceived as real-world environments, developing attachments like those for physical places. When these platforms undergo significant changes or degradation, users may experience solastalgia: grief and loss linked to environmental degradation. This exploratory study investigates whether solastalgia can be felt for social media platforms. Through an online survey (n = 200), participants provided insights into social media usage, User Interface (UI) preferences, and perceived platform degradation, alongside psychometric assessments of solastalgia, social media addiction, technostress, and technology readiness. Findings support the hypothesis that solastalgia can occur for social media platforms. Key predictors include online interaction style, perceived platform mismanagement, aggressive monetization, technostress, low technology readiness, and identifying as male. Additionally, a preference for past UI designs correlates with higher solastalgia scores. We discuss implications for User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design and propose directions for future research.
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This work was funded by the University of Bergen (Norway). This research was supported by internal university research funds and therefore is not associated with any grant or grant number.
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EC, DM and SG wrote the main manuscript text. EC and SG designed the study. EC prepared the survey code, performed the analysis, prepared Figure 1, Table 1 and Table 2. DM supervised the data analysis. SG collected the data and supervised the study. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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This research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the Norwegian Research Ethics Act (Forskningsetikkloven), and the national guidelines for social science research issued by the National Ethics Board for Social Sciences and Humanities (NESH). Because the study consisted of a non-medical, anonymous online survey without the collection of health or sensitive personal data, it fell outside the scope of the national health-research legislation (Helseforskningsloven) and therefore did not require review or approval by a health-research ethics committee. The University of Bergen’s institutional regulations were followed throughout the study.
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Cipriani, E., Menicucci, D. & Grassini, S. Digital solastalgia: exploring user attachment and perceived degradation in social media environments. Humanit Soc Sci Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06608-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-06608-2
