Changing our sense of self and truth

New study of Canadian youth delves deeply into effects of social media

Online social media has always been part of life for today’s evangelical youth, shaping their experiences of belonging, identity and discipleship. A new multiyear research study by 12 Canadian organizations alongside researchers at The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada explores these changes and what they mean for youth ministry.

Influencing Faith: Canadian Research on Social Media and Faith Formation in Evangelical Youth was shaped initially by interviews with 16 ministry experts, 23 youth workers and 40 young people. Researchers then took key questions to surveys of 586 youth workers and 738 young people across Canada.

Social media affects youth faith formation in various ways, according to the study. Social media encourages thinking of faith and identity as things we develop within ourselves, rather than things we develop collaboratively through in-person community. It changes how we experience belonging – shaped now by our visibility in online posts, reels, videos, groups and recorded online interactions.

When it feels like everyone is on social media, there’s a lot of pressure to also be there, something the report calls the Total Network Effect. The online environment influences spiritual formation in part because humans tend to give more weight to the first information we hear on a topic – which the report calls the Anchoring Effect – and that’s a problem when we first hear certain religious content from sources that may be theologically suspect.

Social media can erode the building of in-person communication skills, which has a direct impact on church activities. The study does reflect on these effects and many more, quoting directly from Canadian youth and youth leaders.

Ultimately it highlights a fundamental tension between the way social media works – taken in and responded to at our own convenience ("asynchronously") – and the way churches seek to form faith through in-person activities, conversations and learning ("synchronously").

The study is an important conversation starter for Christian communities. After all, social media seems to be here to stay, and so it’s better to find creative ways to deal with it rather than ignore it. It goes on to call church leaders to create spaces where people can talk about it, reflect on it, and find support and guidance over its use.

Affirmation and withdrawal

Lead researcher Rick Hiemstra, vice-president for ministry and public engagement at the EFC, highlights a difference between the kind of posts that disappear after a set time and others that are more permanent.

An online platform with expiring posts encourages a sense of identity and belonging based only on recent interactions, which allows users to explore personal change and encourages a desire for repeated recent affirmations.

More permanent posts encourage people to develop highly curated images online of themselves, where a standard of near perfection is expected and where failure is quickly commented on. Similarly, memes with insider humour can register praise from many and make an individual feel validated.

Some young people said the best content was when someone would just "drop a verse and talk about it."

This is very different from spending time in-person with others, like in a youth group, where "we can hear each other and respond," Hiemstra says.

On social media, "people send messages, but different people in their networks are picking it up at different times and responding at different times. And that gives you an opportunity to edit yourself, to put only your best self forward. And that is very different than in a real-world situation."

This makes it increasingly common for young people to miss developing the skill of looking you in the eye during conversation. It makes pauses more frequent in direct speech as speakers edit in their mind what they are about to say.

"As social media shifts us from human interaction toward consuming content online, it may fundamentally change what it means to connect with others," he says.

When interactive social media spaces are unsafe around conflictual topics, people pull back and merely consume without contributing. The algorithm that precisely and consistently feeds content to affirm current beliefs can start to feel preferable to real in-person interaction, which has no guarantee of affirmation.

New indications of authority

Authority in the social media world functions differently. Youth ascribe authority to aesthetically pleasing content. It could be beautiful people or images, or just a well edited video, explains Hiemstra. The aesthetics matter more than qualifications like a speaker’s seminary degree.

Authority online is also a function of identification with the speaker. Youth grant authority to someone online "who is like me," says Hiemstra. Older pastors with seminary degrees are not like them, so the pastors have less authority in their lives than, say, a young adult posting on theological topics.

"Some said to us, ‘I’m not sure that it’s theologically good, but I really like it,’" Hiemstra reports. This makes it hard for churches with small budgets to compete in influencing the faith formation of youth.

Some young people said the best content was when someone would just "drop a verse and talk about it," says Hiemstra. "They would give more authority to that, even if they know nothing about that person’s theological education."

A challenge for youth workers

The study also focused on the challenges facing youth workers over social media. It found that most use it to try to get youth to attend in-person events.

"There were very few examples of youth ministry workers who were trying to do discipleship or ministry online," Hiemstra says. Only a few tried to use it to conduct Bible study.

One major issue that emerged from the study was safety. Churches have protection policies about in-person engagement between staff and vulnerable people such as youth, but only one-third have any written social media policy at all.

A foundational rule in many church policies is that two people must be present when an adult engages with a young person. "But when youth workers are direct messaging a teen on social media, there’s no accountability," says Hiemstra.

Yet youth workers told researchers they feel a need to communicate with youth this way in order to engage them. "They had to violate their in-person policies in order to have those one-on-one conversations," says Hiemstra. Youth workers feel that "Good discipleship demanded it."

For Hiemstra, "this is a significant risk for youth ministries. Churches need to have an open, clear and frank conversation about it."

They also need to talk about the burden social media is placing on youth workers as they try to keep up with youth.

"A typical youth minister is probably using three or four different communication channels to stay in touch with youth and their parents," he said. "The administrative burden just of communicating has gone way up. There’s a whole portion of youth ministry that we don’t recognize of just being present on these social media spaces that was never there before."

A need to think critically about technology

Given all that, what can churches do? The first thing is to talk about how technologies affect our thinking and behaviour, Hiemstra says.

"We need to think critically about the technologies we adopt and how they change our message."

Hiemstra points to the Incarnation as an important concept for Christians to remember in this context. "Christ came in the body. He came into time and space. Social media eliminates time and space. It makes it irrelevant, and that changes the message. And if we move our message into the digital space, that changes it."

He sees special opportunities for ministry with youth at summer camp. They are willing to be off social media at camp because it offers a compelling, alternative community where youth briefly don’t feel like everyone is on social media.

The Church "can break the power" of the Total Network Effect when it creates compelling alternative community spaces, says Hiemstra, who also points to Christian colleges and universities as similar.

Youth ministry workers respond

For Sanjana Daniel, digital ministry and content manager for InterVarsity Canada, the study confirms Christian youth are well aware of the potential harm of social media – but they’re going to use it anyway.

"The majority of youth are not looking to escape to a phoneless utopia, and offering that as the only answer to the problems they experience only keeps them stuck," he says. "There has to be room in our response to hold both the possibility of a life that’s not dictated by culture, and hope for digital tools like social media to be used redemptively when people are filled with the Holy Spirit and exercise wise discernment."

"There has to be room in our response to hold both the possibility of a life that’s not dictated by culture, and hope for digital tools like social media to be used redemptively."

This may require the Church to change, too, Daniel says. "If we can break out of the business-model version of church ministry we’ve grown accustomed to, and embrace the basics – one-on-one discipleship, love before transformation, empowering young and lay people to lead, daily presence, teaching discernment – we’ll be well equipped to steward youth into a deeply embodied faith."

AJ Crocker is Western Canada executive director for the Association of Christian Schools International. For him, the study "moves the conversation beyond screen time and risk to help us understand what social media actually does for young people and why they value it."

Educators and church leaders can use it to better understand the formative environment students are living in "so we can ask better questions about how we are forming them toward Christlikeness," he says.

The study can also cause Christian educators and the Church at large to ask about the kind of culture we’re creating, and what kind of disciples we want to create.

"Young people are constantly being formed by the relationships, messages, practices and environments around them," Crocker says. "The question is, ‘What is forming them and toward what?’ Our response cannot simply be less technology. We need compelling Christian communities, trusted relationships, biblical discernment and spiritual practices that intentionally form young people toward Jesus."

Josh Woodcock of One Hope Canada heads up a team that developed Twelve, an alternative social media platform for Christian ministries with youth. He says the study can help youth workers to "think more critically about the technology they’re implementing in their ministries. At best, it creates a safer, more intentional space both in-person and between gatherings where faith-driven relationships can flourish."

It can also push churches to think about how they can train youth workers in the use of social media.

"The average youth worker is not considering that there should be set guidelines for appropriate behaviour online, even if they have strict rules for in-person gatherings," Woodcock says. "For the safety of our ministries, youth workers, and especially the vulnerable population they’re serving, this needs to be resolved."

The full 300-page study is available at TheEFC.ca/InfluencingFaith, alongside a summary of six key findings and other downloadable materials. Rick Hiemstra will be also be making presentations on the findings at regional Youth Worker Community conferences this fall.