It certainly seems like it lots of times. There is no doubt a large element of confirmation bias in this, so I’d appreciate anyone pointing me to cites/studies of internet religiosity. Informed speculation is also welcome. I don’t think complete WAGs would be helpful, since I have plenty of those, but if you think you have a unique perspective, do share it.
Also, I know ‘On the internet’ could be taken to mean many things. This is not necessarily bad, since any studies that have been done on the subject would probably define it differently.
(I know this is a bit of an IMHO question, but I’m putting it in GQ because I’d appreciate a factual answer, and well, the question can be answered factually in theory, I just don’t know if anyone has done it)
Older folks are more religious than younger people, and there are fewer old folks using the internet.
I’m forty, I have a few dozen(tops) ex classmates as “friends” on facebook. My brother, a year older, has far fewer. We fell in with the younger generation in our usage habits. We are right on the bell curve hill for prolific computer use. People older than us are far more likely to pursue other interests.
My mom, 62, has far far fewer friends of her age that are online.
Back to me. I worked in a bar, and about 1/3 of my 300 contacts are cousins and family(I am second oldest grand kid), and well over 100 are former patrons and staff from the bar I worked in. They tend to be 10-15 years younger than me. The remainder tend to be people I met online and kept as real friends.
As an aside, I find it amusing that I am closer to ex customers than my childhood classmates.
If you think atheists are using the net to put themselves forward, you should see how different churches put each other down. Those people lie worst than Satan himself just to make other churches look bad.
If you stick to Americans, it is highly unlikely, given that only 20% self-identify as atheists. Now if you look at STD posters, I think you will get quite different statistics.
When I was growing up (b. 1937), very few of my contemporaries appeared to be religious. Some of them may have gotten religion in the meantime, but it seems to me it was the boomers who, by way of rebelling against their parents, got religious in a big way. Probably someone has studied the question and you can find the answer on the net.
Is that actually true? It seems to me there has been something of an uptick in religiojn, especially the fundamentalist crazy type, in young people in recent years.
I’m not sure that either one of those statements is true. I’d need a cite to believe them.
Certainly on this site, and ones like it, the atheists outnumber the religous. But I visit many other sites where the opposite is true; and even more where it’s not easy to tell if someone is religious or not.
I’d be somewhat surprised if the internet population does not track closely with the overall population in terms of religiosity. I think the older generations are online much more than the younger folks think, because they are on different parts of the intenet.
I mean, just look at the age polls here at the Dope - we probably have more people over 40 than under. And we tend to skew less religious.
Then you are not practicing enough. Don’t you find it hypocritical to pray to a god you don’t believe exists and to take sacraments under false prestenses?
Hari Seldon, your recollection of the religiosity of Americans seems to fly in the face of recorded history.
You can hide their posts though. I have found that in general, there are a lot of atheists / agnostics / skeptics on the internet. On Facebook every other post is about God or Jesus. And these are people my age, whom I grew up with. They were the farthest thing from religious in high school. I was the last to lose my virginity. And now they’ve all found Jesus. (age: 40)
I think that many people, who are otherwise clearly non believers, will not self identify as atheist. There are many reasons for this but perhaps the most significant is that it is simply bad business. There are many parts of the country where, if you do not belong to a church, people will not patronize your business (or hire you) if they have any choice. If you volunteer that you are an atheist, many will shun you. Furthermore, churches remain one of the strongest community forces in much of America. Where better to look for customers?
Make no mistake about it, the pews are filled with atheists who will never own up to it. I suspect the same can be said about the clergy.
Is this really still true? I am over 60 and I have been online for almost 20 years now. My uncle is 91, and he has been online for quite a while too. The Internet is everyday life for lots of people now.
I hear some of the women on the net are actual real women these days, too.
I’m almost 60 myself and have been online for a while now, too. I think the usage curve starts trending downward a few more years past us. A 91-year-old user is probably more the exception than the rule.