Polarization: linking loneliness and social media dependency

Purpose This study aims to examine how the social media service environment (SMSE), meant to attract and retain users, exacerbates online polarizing and morally controversial conduct and social media dependency. Design/methodology/approach Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software was used to investigate user-generated comments on the social media platform X for instances of polarizing and morally divisive behavior. The transferability of the results was improved by surveying online panel participants to validate and generalize earlier findings. Structural equation modeling simultaneously analyzed direct and mediator effects on social media dependency. Findings Polarizing behavior online predicts social media dependency across two studies. Linguistic analysis suggests that loneliness-related negative emotions indirectly cause social media dependency, mediated by polarizing expression. Survey results confirmed that generating polarized content mediates loneliness and social media dependency. Social implications Polarization impairs democratic discourse, public engagement and institutional trust. This study examines how the SMSE can undermine consumer welfare and contribute to societal decline by normalizing and amplifying extreme views. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first in marketing to examine loneliness, polarizing behavior, and dependency in a social media context. Supported by literature, it demonstrates that the SMSE contributes to polarization and dependency by magnifying morally divisive engagement, with loneliness being a contributing factor. In defining the role of loneliness in nonconformist, “hardcore” social media users, it sheds new light on the spiral of silence theory.