Understanding the Lived Experience of Digital Spirituality among Young Adults
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Abstract
Religion and spirituality have undergone a profound transformation in the digital era, reshaping how individuals experience faith, identity, and community. Within this evolving landscape, the lived spiritual experiences of young adults represent a crucial yet understudied phenomenon that reveals how technology mediates the search for meaning and sacred connection. Despite growing research on online religiosity, little is known about the subjective dimensions of these experiences how individuals feel, interpret, and internalize spirituality in digital contexts. This study applies an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to explore how young adults experience and make sense of spirituality through digital platforms, addressing the question of how faith and authenticity are reconstructed in technologically mediated environments. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with twelve participants actively engaged in online spiritual practices, and analyzed thematically to capture essential patterns of meaning. The analysis identifies three central experiential themes that directly reflect participants’ meaning-making processes in digital settings. The results reveal that digital spaces function simultaneously as environments of connection and fragmentation, where participants construct personal expressions of belief while negotiating authenticity and belonging. Themes identified include the transformation of religious identity, negotiation of authenticity in virtual faith, and longing for embodied sacred presence. These findings demonstrate that spirituality in the digital age is a dynamic, interpretive process grounded in emotional engagement and reflexive identity-making. The study advances understanding of modern religiosity by highlighting the inner, phenomenological dimensions of digital spirituality and offers a foundation for future cross-cultural and longitudinal research on the evolving relationship between faith and technology.
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