Studies Show Constant Internet Use May Be Leading to Spiritual Numbness

You didn’t stop praying not exactly. It just got harder to focus. Harder to slow down. Harder to feel like anything real was happening. You’re not mad at God. You’re just disconnected. Tired. Surrounded by spiritual content but starving for spiritual connection.

Welcome to the paradox of being a Christian in 2025.

We are the most digitally connected generation in church history, with access to more sermons, devotionals, Bible tools, podcasts, and prayer apps than ever before. And yet, many of us feel spiritually dry. Numb. Spiritually adrift. Not from a crisis of faith, but from saturation. We are oversaturated with content and undernourished in presence.

And now, research is beginning to explain why.

The Fragmented Soul

Dr. Gloria Mark, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, has studied attention in the digital age for decades. Her findings are startling: the average person now spends just 47 seconds on any screen before switching tasks. This digital fragmentation is no longer just about productivity it’s about how we live, how we think, and how we relate to God.

Spiritual life requires attentiveness, but our culture trains us in distraction. A prayer that once lingered now gets clipped. A Scripture reading once savored is now skimmed. Even worship can become something we watch instead of something we enter into.

We’re overstimulated and underformed.

Presence Requires Stillness

Dr. Felicia Wu Song, sociologist and author of Restless Devices, argues that technology shapes not only our actions, but our very minds and emotions. “Spiritual life depends on presence,” she says. But presence requires stillness something our online habits make nearly impossible.

The Christian tradition has long treasured silence, solitude, and reflection. These are not empty disciplines; they are sacred spaces where we meet God. Yet, in a world of constant stimulation, these quiet practices now feel uncomfortable. And what feels uncomfortable is easily avoided.

Numbness Is Not Neutral

In 2022, a study in Behavioral Sciences linked high social media use with emotional exhaustion, anxiety, and depression. These aren’t just mental health issues they are spiritual ones. A numb soul doesn’t lean into grace. It retreats. When you feel perpetually overwhelmed, spiritual practices lose their depth. You stop feeling joy in Scripture. Prayer feels mechanical. Worship feels like a performance.

And the more we lean into digital spaces to fill the void, the deeper the numbness grows.

A meta-analysis in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions found that heavy social media use is associated with structural changes in the brain, particularly in areas related to self-control and emotional regulation the very faculties we need to engage with God meaningfully.

Faith in the Feed

The digital world has given us unprecedented access to spiritual resources. This isn’t inherently bad. But access is not the same as intimacy. Knowing about God is not knowing God. Watching worship is not worship. Listening to theology podcasts is not transformation.

We live in an age of ambient spirituality a constant buzz of Christian content that surrounds us but rarely sinks in. You can follow ten pastors on Instagram and still struggle to follow Jesus in your everyday life.

Worse, the performance element of online life has crept into our spirituality. We feel the pressure to brand our faith. To present a curated image of quiet times, insights, and inspiration. But the Christian life is rarely photogenic. True spiritual formation is slow. Hidden. Often painful. And definitely not optimized for clicks.

Always Learning, Never Arriving

The Apostle Paul warned of a day when people would be “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). If that doesn’t describe digital faith, nothing does. We consume content endlessly but are we drawing closer to God? Or just growing more accustomed to being observers?

This kind of pseudo-engagement leaves many believers, especially younger ones, confused. They’re not rejecting faith. They’re not deconstructing out of rebellion. They’re just tired. Lost in a sea of information, unsure where the voice of God even is anymore.

What We’re Losing

As we gain spiritual content, we often lose spiritual disciplines: long Scripture reading, extended prayer, communal confession, meditative silence. Not because we stopped valuing them, but because we’ve forgotten how to make space for them.

Psalm 62:1 says, “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.” That kind of rest isn’t passive or accidental. It’s chosen. It’s cultivated. And it can’t be multitasked.

Jesus, who faced more need and urgency than any of us, “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). He carved out time not because he didn’t care about the crowd, but because he cared about the Father. He didn’t burn out. He withdrew. He modeled a rhythm of retreat and return. And if the Son of God needed solitude, so do we.

The Way Back

You don’t need to throw your phone away. You don’t need to disappear from the internet. But you may need to create new margins. You may need to carve out space for God in ways that feel countercultural.

Start small. A few minutes of silence. A slow reading of Psalm 23. A whispered prayer before you check your notifications. These are not big, dramatic moves. But they are holy ones.

Because spiritual numbness doesn’t descend all at once. It creeps in gradually, hidden beneath habits that seem harmless. But the road back back to sensitivity, back to hunger, back to joy begins just as simply.

Less noise. More presence.

Close the apps. Light a candle. Open your Bible slowly. And sit. Not because you have the perfect plan or the perfect heart. But because in the quiet, God still speaks. And you were made to hear Him.

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