Digital solastalgia
Exploring user attachment and perceived degradation in social media environments
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17832141 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Enrico Cipriani (0000-0001-6690-6591, University of Pisa), Danilo Menicucci (0000-0002-5521-4108, University of Pisa), Simone Grassini (0000-0002-4189-7585, University of Bergen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41599-026-06608-2 |
| OpenAlex | W7127176478 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
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
Digital media · Exploratory research · Preference · Social media · User experience design · User interface · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Technology Adoption and User Behaviour · Technostress in Professional Settings
Why men and women continue to use social networking sites
Development and validation of the Multimodal Presence Scale for virtual reality environments
Mapping the Solastalgia Literature
Technology readiness
PsyToolkit
Social Media Elements, Ecologies, and Effects
Technostress
Common method biases in behavioral research
Exploring ‘digital placemaking’
Imagined places of the past
Migration to the metaverse and its predictors
Linking place preferences with place meaning
Place attachment
The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem
Make new friends or keep the old
Sense of Place as an Attitude
Social media addiction
The Brief Solastalgia Scale
Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect
What Is Solastalgia and How Is It Measured? SOS, a Validated Scale in Population Exposed to Drought and Forest Fires
Development of a Facebook Addiction Scale
Towards an eclectic theory of the internet commons
On place attachments in virtual worlds
Determinants of restorative experiences in everyday favorite places
Place-identity as a product of environmental self-regulation
Defining place attachment
Presence, Explicated
Development and Validation of an Internationally Reliable Short-Form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Panas)
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |