{"id":97399,"date":"2001-12-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-12-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2001\/12\/23\/part-2-what-religion-surfers-do-online\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:14:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:14:29","slug":"part-2-what-religion-surfers-do-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2001\/12\/23\/part-2-what-religion-surfers-do-online\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 2: What Religion Surfers do online"},"content":{"rendered":"
Activities<\/h3>\n\n
Religion Surfers are a spiritually well-rounded group who incorporate into their spiritual lives communal and individual activities, formal and informal practices. The most valued spiritual activities to Religion Surfers are individual prayer (85%), volunteer service (71%), communal worship (70%), and informal conversations with friends (69%).\u00a0 By contrast, the importance to them of going online for religious material is relatively low, with only 13% considering it \u201cvery important\u201d to them.<\/p>\n\n
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Whether or not online content and activities contribute materially to their spiritual life, however, Religion Surfers still have favorite Internet-based activities. Active Seekers in particular like to explore various online materials, and are more likely than any other group to have participated in most types of online activity or practice.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n
Reference and study<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n
Religion Surfers enjoy perusing religious topics, and the Internet remains a browser\u2019s dream.\u00a0 The top uses by Religion Surfers are simply to find information on their own faith or another one.\u00a0 Almost all non-Christians (96%) report seeking information on their own faiths. In this predominantly Christian country, the Internet may well be the most fruitful and convenient source of information on other religious traditions. <\/p>\n\n
Among Religion Surfers, men are more likely than women to have used the Internet as a reference, 73% vs. 62% for researching their own faiths, and 57% to 46% for researching other faiths.\u00a0 Men are also twice as likely as women to have sought out sermons or other instruction online, 35% to 18%.\u00a0 While online religion courses would fit into this category of study, they are not yet popular.\u00a0 There are many plausible reasons for this, not the least of which might be that 85% of Internet users in America have slow dial-up modems that could make online coursework difficult and frustrating.\u00a0 It is far easier to simply browse at one\u2019s convenience on topics of interest.<\/p>\n\n
Social activities<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n
Old-fashioned face-to-face socializing is much more appealing to Religion Surfers than tech-aided interactions with others that are related to faith. Among the five least-used activities among Religion Surfers, three are largely social: online chat, playing faith-oriented computer games,[8.numoffset=”8″ Many online faith-oriented games are multi-player role-playing games, and thus constitute social rather than individual activity.] and using a faith-oriented matchmaking service.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n
In a different sense, however, the very nature of seeking religious material online appears to be a social one.\u00a0 Half of Religion Surfers have recommended a site to a friend or relative, and these recommendations are primary sources of favored sites.\u00a0 Some 44% of those who have a single favorite site learned of it from a friend or relative, rather than from their own searching.\u00a0 And 63% of Religion Surfers with a favorite site pass the URL along.\u00a0 However, while favorite sites may bounce around existing social networks, they do not serve to create new ones.\u00a0 Only 15% of those with favorite sites report using them to meet new people.<\/p>\n\n
Advice and support<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n
Those willing to seek advice or assistance can often find help online. Religion Surfers are quite generous. When asked about the support capabilities of the Web, they were far more likely to have reported giving faith-oriented advice (37%) than asking for it (21%). Women are more active than men in both seeking and giving advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n\n![\"Active](\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/media\/5CEA2601F4384A05917FD063C54859BD.jpg\")
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