Socially Distanced, Digitally Engaged: Mediatization of Religious Practices of Indonesian Digital Natives during covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract This article explores the digital religious engagement among Indonesian Muslim digital natives during the global covid -19 pandemic. The study employed a mixed methods approach, utilizing an explanatory sequential design with 350 participants. This study shows that the social distancing strategy during the pandemic has accelerated digital religious engagement and led to the emergence of mediatized religious practices through the following features: (1) higher participation in attending virtual religious events; (2) the increasing participation in communal prayer (duas) held virtually; (3) the increasing use of smartphone-based Islamic apps to connect with religious texts and discourses; and (4) the increasing internet and social media utilization as a medium for acquiring Islamic knowledge. These digital religious practices have increasingly become a norm, especially for Indonesian Muslim digital natives, shown by changes in religious practice and the growing use of the internet for religious practices as a specific feature of a mediatized religion.