Unfriending on Social Media Due to Religious Content Is Common, Study Shows
Americans are aware that discussing religion or politics in social gatherings can be a bad idea. But social media grants fast-track access to a person’s belief system, and the result could be lost followers and strained friendships, Pew Research Center found.
Pew’s Findings
Pew Research Center conducted a survey to find out whether Americans block or take action to see less of someone’s posts due to religious content. The answer was a firm yes, with about 17% of people 18 years and older taking action.
To Block or Restrict
The 17% of Americans who change their social media settings because they don’t want to see a person’s religious content chose to do so in different ways. Some outright block the person, while others unfriend or change a setting to see less of the person’s content.
Political Divide
According to Pew’s findings, a greater percentage of Democrats block or unfollow a person for posting religious content than Republicans.
Most Likely To Give the Boot
Of the different religions assessed, 36% of atheists and 29% of agnostics say they’ve blocked or unfollowed someone due to their religious content. The closest blocking and unfollowing contenders among religiously affiliated groups are Jewish (20%), Evangelical (14%), and Mainline (14%).
Belief vs Reality
One percent to 7% of Americans across different religious categories believe they’ve been blocked or unfollowed due to the religious content they’ve posted. Most protestant groups and atheists reported the highest percentages of belief that someone took action to not see their religious posts.
Intolerant Youth
Of the four age categories of people 18 years and older that Pew Research Center assessed, the youngest category (18 to 29 years old) had blocked or unfollowed someone on social media the most because of religious content.
Wisdom With Age?
Only 7% of the oldest age group (65+) report blocking or unfollowing someone on social media due to religious content. That’s over three times less than the 18 to 29 age group.
Somewhat Committed
Pew also assessed the likelihood of someone blocking another person because of religious content based on the person’s assessment of themselves as “high,” “medium,” or “low” religious commitment.
Twenty-four percent of people who self-reported having low religious commitment have blocked or unfollowed people because of their religious content on social media. In comparison, those who classified themselves as having medium or high religious commitment blocked or unfollowed at a 14% and 13% rate, respectively.
Religions Assessed
Pew received enough data from people identifying with the following religions to use the information they released:
- Protestant (Evangelical, Mainline, & Historically Black Protestant)
- Catholic
- Jewish
- Religiously unaffiliated (atheist, agnostic, and nothing in particular)
Omitted Religions
The data from Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and several other religious groups weren’t included in Pew’s results due to too small of a sample size.
Treading Lightly
Only 17% of Americans 18 years and older say they’ve posted about religion once or more on social media. Of that group, 2% do it every day, 3% do it weekly, and 12% do it every month or less often.
Staying Quiet
Pew’s findings match what many Americans could have already guessed: Staying quiet on social media about sensitive topics will prevent your friend count from decreasing.
Least Religious Countries
Whether it be by force or choice, these are the world’s 15 least religious countries.
15 Least Religious Countries in the World
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