Social Media and Faith Statistics (2026)

Key statistics

The most directly comparable primary evidence is a Pew Research Center survey of 11,377 U.S. adults conducted November 16–27, 2022. The sample came from Pew’s American Trends Panel, recruited through national random sampling of residential addresses and weighted to represent the U.S. adult population. Pew defines its online-worship figures using respondents who watched services online or on TV in the prior month or who generally watched at least once or twice a month. Read Pew’s report and methodology.

• 27% of U.S. adults regularly watched religious services on screens in November 2022: 10% watched only on screens and 17% both watched on screens and attended in person. Across in-person and virtual participation, 43% attended or watched at least monthly under Pew’s definition.
• 20% of U.S. adults watched religion-focused online videos, such as videos on YouTube or TikTok. This question excluded religious services.
• 17% of U.S. adults posted or shared something about religion on social media, including 2% daily, 3% weekly and 12% monthly or less often.
• 11% of U.S. adults posted a prayer request online, while 42% had seen someone else’s prayer request online.
• 17% of U.S. adults had unfollowed, unfriended, blocked someone, or changed their settings to see less of someone because of religious content that person posted or shared. This is a reported moderation action, not evidence that social media caused a change in faith.

Pew’s companion analysis reports the same 2022 survey population and defines “highly religious” adults as people who attend services weekly, pray daily and say religion is very important in their lives. In that analysis, 53% of highly religious adults searched online for religious information, compared with 30% of U.S. adults overall; 20% of adults overall watched religion-focused online videos. Read Pew’s technology-use tables and definitions.

A separate PRRI population and measure

PRRI’s 2023 American Values Atlas is a different source and should not be combined with Pew’s percentages. It surveyed a representative sample of 22,465 U.S. adults age 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with interviews conducted online from March 9 to December 7, 2023. PRRI defines Gen Z adults in this fact sheet as Americans ages 18–25. Read PRRI’s 2024 Gen Z fact sheet and methodology.

In that PRRI dataset, 34% of Gen Z adults identified as religiously unaffiliated, 20% attended religious services at least once a week, and 17% said religion was the most important thing in their lives. These are measures of affiliation, attendance and religious importance; they do not establish that social media caused religious switching or disengagement. The PRRI source does not support the previously published claim that 39% of young adults left organized religion because of “negative things they saw online,” so that claim is not repeated here.

What these numbers support

The sources support a narrower conclusion than a causal story: online services, religious videos, prayer requests and religious posting are established parts of U.S. religious life, while some users also take steps to reduce exposure to religious content. Pew’s survey is descriptive and cross-sectional. It does not show that social media causes conversion, deconversion, declining attendance or a particular spiritual outcome.

PRRI’s 2023 data provides a separate view of Gen Z’s religious affiliation, attendance and importance. Because the two studies use different populations, field dates and questionnaires, their percentages should be reported separately rather than added together or treated as a trend line.

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If this page is useful to you and you want to evaluate FaithLock, the official FaithLock App Store listing (App ID 6754208209) describes an iOS app that blocks selected distracting apps and asks you to read Scripture before access. That is a chosen friction and accountability workflow, not a guarantee, and it is not evidence of any religious outcome.

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