Between tradition and innovation: social media in the religious lives of young adults in Poland

Introduction

As highlighted in previous research (Bolton et al. 2013) as well as in all rhe chapters in this volume, we need to take media into account if we want to arrive at an adequate understanding of today’s youth (e.g. Possamai 2009; Bolton et al. 2013) and their religious lives and views (Moberg and Sjd 2015). Although media are an essential part of everyday life for today’s young adult generation, approaching them all as belonging to a “media generation” or viewing them as “digital natives” - as has often been the case in previous research on young adults and the present-day media environment -easily misses the complex and diverse variety of ways in which young people approach media, and particularly social media (Margaryan et al. 2011). This is clearly also the case when the focus is on religiosity and media use.

Poland provides a fascinating case for the study of these issues, not least since it remains marked by quite high levels of religiosity and religious practice. Even though the young Polish adults who took part in rhe Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective project (YARG) view themselves as considerably less religious than the family they grew up in (a mean of 4.5 versus a mean of 6.4 on a scale from 0 to 10), they are still located on the more “religious end” when compared to all other thirteen contexts studied in YARG. Only the results from India and Ghana display higher means of self-assessed degree of personal religiosity. While reporting very similar figures of religious belonging (33 percent) as the respondents in the total YARG sample (35 percent), Polish respondents still reported comparatively higher frequencies of participation and engagement in religious practice. In the total sample, 16 percent reported taking part in religious practices at least once a week while in Poland the portion was 29 percent.

Previous studies have illustrated the centrality of media and social media in the religious lives of Poles, particularly among Catholic Christians, the dominant religious group in Poland. The Catholic Church uses media actively (e.g. Wqsinski and Szyszka 2013) and Catholic Internet forums are by some used as sites for religious dialogue and exploration (Kolodziejska 2014a, 2014b). Online discussion forums have also been shown to challenge traditional religious authorities (Kolodziejska and Neumaier 2017). The Polish YARG respondents are avid Internet users, with almost 93 percent reporting using the Internet daily. They did not, however, report using the Internet for “religious or spiritual services and issues” to any greater extent at all. Indeed, as many as 65 percent reported that they “never” use the Internet for this purpose and not a single respondent reported doing so “every day,” which is a unique result among all other contexts studied in YARG.

It is also noteworthy that social media use in Poland remains somewhat low in wider international comparison. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, only 46 percent of Poles report generally using social media sites (Pew Research Center 2018a). As is the case in many other countries, age makes a difference. While only 29 percent of Polish adults 37 years or older use social media, 84 percent of those between the ages 18-36 do report using such sites. Still, in comparison with many of the other contexts studied in YARG, social media use is not quite as common among young people in Poland. Looking at the European contexts studied by both YARG and the Pew Research Center - Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Turkey - Poland has, with 84 percent, the lowest portion of young adult social media users. In Russia, 92 percent of those aged 18-36 report using social media; in Sweden, the number is 90 percent; and in Turkey 86 percent. Turning to the YARG survey, 81 percent of respondents in the total YARG sample reported getting information about news or current affairs from social media. In the Polish sample, however, only 58 percent of respondents reported this being the case. While social media are, of course, used for a range of other purposes among the Polish respondents, a somewhat critical attitude toward social media is perhaps noticeable already in these results. A critical attitude comes across ever more clearly in the interviews.

In this chapter, we want to explore in more detail how the young adult Poles that participated in YARG relate to social media and particularly the role it plays in their religious lives. Previous studies have illustrated the complex ways in which social media can be used for negotiating religious authority (e.g. Cheong 2013) and in the construction of religious identities (e.g. Leurs et al. 2012). Social media can allow new voices to be heard, but they of course also provide a platform for traditional religious authorities. Regarding identity, as discussed by van Dijck (2013b) among others, social media sites afford users a great deal of options for the performance of selves and construction of identities online. Religious identities can thus easily be presented, enacted, concealed, or negotiated online. While social media can provide safe spaces for the exploration of religious topics and aspects of the self (Leurs et al. 2012), they can also be used to stir up and amplify conflict and controversy (Taylor et al. 2014). For some, devolving one’s religious identity online is a given. For others, hiding it comes just as natural (Bob-kowski and Pearce 2011).

In the following, we proceed to present the Polish context in more detail, focusing on both the Polish religious and media landscapes. This is followedby an exploration of the thoughts expressed by Polish respondents regarding the relationship between their Internet and social media use and religious lives. We make a general distinction between those respondents who hold a skeptical attitude toward using social media in religion-related matters, and those who remain more open to such types of usage. We conclude with some summarizing thoughts on our findings and a short discussion of possible avenues for future research.