CMV: As the Internet pushes people further into isolated pockets, more of them will turn to churches for a basic sense of community.

Church is one of the last places where anyone can safely feel connected to and dependent upon people who aren’t family without it being “weird.” Most people don’t live in cute little walkable towns where there are free events and hobby spaces. Third places for hanging out or meeting new people are becoming rarer; parks and malls just don’t seem as busy anymore. A lot of neighborhoods are more like a random assortment of families who just happen to live near each other than a community. But church is free, socially acceptable, and full of people who automatically want you there.

I have friends who have never, ever been interested in religion who go to church just so they can feel like they belong somewhere. I‘m 31 and it’s happening more and more in my social circle.

I’m a professor and students have gone from saying their favorite place to be is the beach/woods/a friend’s house/some cultural place in the nearest big city to saying their favorite place in the world is their bed at home (I don’t blame them, honestly.). They hardly ever interact with each other and our campus is dead after 3PM, when it used to be busy and fun well into the late evening. Students used to make friends in my classes somewhat regularly, and now they just silently scroll on their phones as much as possible. I know I sound like an old woman yelling at clouds, but it’s true that society is atomizing rapidly. Technology minimizes human interaction: we don’t have to know our neighbors, leave the house, seek people out in person to socialize, go to the store and buy a book if we want to learn stuff.

(I do think that people are starting to see the intrusion of phones especially into everyday life as a public health/policy issue. My state banned phones in schools, and according to my teacher friends, the cafeteria is actually loud and chaotic and fun again.)

This started when I was a teen myself, so I’m already seeing friends in my generation desperate for some kind of human connection once they get older and realize how important it is and that it’s no longer built into their day by going to school. They literally just go because they want to belong and they like the routine social interaction and events.

I can’t say if churches will become more secular or Americans will become more religious, but someone is happening.