Beyond information: human and emotional dimensions of echo chambers

Purpose This paper aims to invite a reconceptualization of echo chambers as affective, social environments – more fluid and psychologically complex than previously acknowledged. Design/methodology/approach The author presents a conceptual and theory-building paper aiming to develop an affect-centered framework that can guide future empirical research. This paper invites a reconceptualization of echo chambers as affective social environments more fluid and psychologically complex than previously acknowledged. By foregrounding the emotional, relational and dynamic dimensions of echo chambers, this framework offers a more comprehensive account of digital engagement and helps better explain digital behavioral patterns and the emergence and persistence of echo chambers. Findings The paper develops this affective and dynamic dimension of echo chambers in two ways: it reframes issue-centered and persona-centered chambers as analytically distinct but often overlapping and highlights emotions as a constitutive mechanism of echo chamber (issue as well as persona-centered) formation and persistence rather than a merely secondary or incidental feature; and it explains the affective nature of the micro- and macro-dynamics through which users remain within or move across digital environments. Originality/value Three principal contributions. First, it advances an affect-centered reconceptualization of echo chambers by arguing that they should be understood not merely as informational or epistemic structures, but as affective and relational environments in which emotions play a constitutive role in shaping participation, persistence, trust and resistance to opposing views. Second, it distinguishes echo chambers as a continuum from issue-centered to persona-centered, showing that emotional dynamics operate across both forms. Third, it introduces a framework that restructures the dynamics of users’ affective engagement inside the chamber itself: micro-level strong ties as well as outside the chamber: macro-level and weak ties.