Study: In Times of Crisis People Turn to Prayer, Not Social Media

A recent study found that more people would rather pray than scroll through their social media feeds when they are forced to make a difficult decisions or face tragedy. 

The study, which was conducted by the polling company ComRes, found that when facing difficult decisions 77 percent of people turn to friends or family, 51 percent turn to the Internet, six percent turn to prayer, and only four percent turn to social media. 

While the percentage of people who turn to prayer may seem small, researchers say it's a big deal.

"More people are likely to pray about something than they are to consult social media. That is across the board," Professor Stephen Bullivant, director of the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion and Society at St Mary's University, Twickenham told Christian Today. 

"There is a lot of research already pointing to how religious London is, and reflecting this, the proportion who choose prayer in London is eight per cent, compared to one per cent in the North East. Given the amount of time people spend on social media, and the amount of attention it gets, the fact that people are more likely to ask God for help in making difficult decisions than Facebook is really interesting," he continued. 

Ruth Gledhill, the outgoing editor of Christian Today who commissioned the study says this study can help churches. 

"I think these findings represent both a challenge and opportunity for the churches," she said.  "The opportunity is in the clear pre-eminence of friends and family as sources of wisdom when making difficult decisions, even in today's online world. The challenge is for the local vicar to become seen as one of those friends that we turn to," Gledhill explained.