Digital solastalgia: exploring user attachment and perceived degradation in social media environments

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.