Content escalation, content homogenization, and user immersion: a three-dimensional conceptualization of online rabbit holes
Ine Beyens, Qiru Huo, Konrad Mikalauskas, Rebecca Godard, Amber van der WalAbstract
Online environments are often described as drawing users into a “rabbit hole.” While the term is frequently invoked in both academic and popular discourse, there is little consensus on what precisely constitutes an online rabbit hole. This lack of consensus has resulted in research on this phenomenon being conceptually fragmented and inconsistent. The current scoping review addresses this gap by systematically examining how online rabbit holes have been conceptualized and operationalized. Through a critical synthesis of 30 studies, we derive three recurring dimensions in the different conceptualizations of the online rabbit hole: content escalation, content homogenization, and user immersion. Building on these three key dimensions, we propose a comprehensive three-dimensional conceptual framework for understanding online rabbit holes and offer recommendations for accurately measuring and detecting them.