Date
9-17-2026
Department
School of Communication and the Arts
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Communication (PhD)
Chair
Richard Previte
Keywords
cancel culture, social media, spiral of silence, social cognitive, digital natives, bandura
Disciplines
Communication
Recommended Citation
Townley, Randolph N., "Perceived Effects of Cancel Culture Threat and Digital Natives’ Patterns of Communication on Social Media" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 8866.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/8866
Abstract
"Cancel culture" is a well-known atropism that has become commonplace on social media. To many this may feel like a new phenomenon, but it has existed in various forms since antiquity. From biblical times to today, people have attempted to silence dissenting viewpoints. The cancel culture philosophy is distributed over all viewpoints that have a potentially offensive bent for the group of people who deem the content offensive. This study evaluated whether digital natives feel compelled to limit their exposure on social media to their authentic viewpoints considering the threat of repercussions. Using Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory coupled with "spiral of silence” by Elizabeth Noelle-Neuman, this study ascertained the perceived impact that cancel culture may have on the freedom of expression specifically in the lives of digital natives. This was a qualitative study that used two quantitative surveys: a) one for demographic info and screening and b) one used as a background attitudinal tool to help make sense of the sample use as a triangulation point for attitudes about themes of cancel culture, censorship, freedom of expression, and social media behavior. The attitudinal survey was followed immediately by a semi-structured interview of 25 purposively sampled digital natives to discern the social construct developed through cancel culture and the perceived effect it may have. Are digital natives concerned with being deplatformed, or worse, canceled to the point that it affects their short and long-term ability to provide for themselves? This study showed that people tend to vacillate about whom and under what circumstances individuals should be canceled and, most importantly, that most have modified their approach to posting online because of the threat of cancel culture.
