Smartphone Usage and Religiosity in LDS Young Adults

Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive All Theses and Dissertations 2017-04-01 Smartphone Usage and Religiosity in LDS Young Adults Matthew R. Fereday Brigham Young University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Religion Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Fereday, Matthew R., "Smartphone Usage and Religiosity in LDS Young Adults" (2017). All Theses and Dissertations. 6315. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6315 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact scholarsarchive@byu.edu, ellen_amatangelo@byu.edu.

Smartphone Usage and Religiosity in LDS Young Adults Matthew R. Fereday A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Brent L. Top, Chair William J. Dyer Richard J. McClendon College of Religious Education Brigham Young University Copyright 2017 Matthew R. Fereday All Rights Reserved

ABSTRACT Smartphone Usage and Religiosity in LDS Young Adults Matthew R. Fereday College of Religious Education, BYU Master of Arts in Religious Education This study sought to identify any smartphone usage with significant positive or negative relationships with the religiosity of LDS young adults, with the hypothesis that smartphone usage would indeed have significant relationships with religiosity, both positively and negatively. Over 1,000 BYU students were surveyed for their usage of 36 popular and religious apps and of 33 different categories of content consumption, their content sharing, and compulsive use. That data was compared with their private religiosity (prayer, scripture study, and thinking seriously about religion) and religious experience (strength of beliefs, feeling the Spirit, finding strength through their faith, etc.) BYU students smartphone usage is outlined, with Facebook dominating social media use and most students studying their scriptures on their phones. BYU students religiosity is outlined, revealing a very believing and actively religious student body. Different forms of smartphone usage do have very significant associations with private religiosity, both positive and negative. Smartphone usage behaviors shown to have the greatest negative relationship with religiosity, are, in descending order: consuming erotic/pornographic content, LGBT news or personalities content consumption, consuming content about Video gaming, using the Netflix app, and using the Snapchat app. Smartphone usage behaviors shown to have the greatest positive relationship with religiosity, are, in descending order: LDS teachings and doctrine content consumption, using the Bible Videos app, using the Gospel Library app, using the LDS Tools app, and using the Mormon Tabernacle Choir app. Keywords: smartphones, religiosity, LDS, media, emerging adults

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to express gratitude to my wife, Megan, whose never-ending support of and interest in this thesis and this degree enabled and empowered their successful completion. Her confidence in me has enabled me to do things I never thought I could accomplish. I extend special thanks to Brent Top, whose experience and vision helped shape this project from its outset, and whose insight and encouragement helped it all come together. His counsel and feedback throughout the process was vital to the success of this thesis. I also wish to thank Richard McClendon, who helped focus the study in its initial stages, contributed his analytical expertise to the data analysis, and provided feedback essential to the success of this thesis. Special appreciation goes to Justin Dyer for his help in survey creation and for his feedback in the final stages of this process, helping this thesis come together; to Sarah Coyne for her help in survey creation; to Ray Huntington and Terry Ball for helping me identify this research interest; and to Sean Dixon, LeGrand Laing, Tucker Boyle, Clint Mortensen, and the administration of LDS Seminaries and Institutes of Religion for their support. Finally I express gratitude to my parents, Wayne and Peggy Fereday, and to those of my wife, Matthew and Lisa Richardson, for their support and encouragement and for inspiring me to try to be the best I can be.

TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE... i ABSTRACT... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS... iv LIST OF TABLES... vii LIST OF FIGURES... ix CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION... 1 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE... 4 Effects of Smartphone Usage... 4 General usage... 4 Media consumption... 6 Messaging and Communication... 7 Social Network Sites... 8 Factors related to religiosity... 8 Methodological Considerations... 9 Conclusion... 12 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY... 13 Sample... 13 Procedure... 13 Instrument... 14 iv

Smartphone Usage... 14 Religiosity... 15 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS... 16 Descriptive Data... 16 Sample and Demographics... 16 Smartphone Usage... 18 Religiosity... 26 Inferential analysis and modeling... 28 Factor analysis of the dependent (religiosity) variables... 28 Bivariate Analysis: Smartphone usage and religiosity... 30 Bivariate Analysis: Smartphone content consumption and religiosity... 35 Bivariate Analysis: Sharing content on social networks and religiosity... 39 Bivariate Analysis: Compulsive smartphone use and religiosity... 40 Regression Analysis... 43 Smartphone Usage Relationships with Private Religiosity... 44 Smartphone Usage Relationships with Religious Experience... 46 Conclusion... 49 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION... 50 Research Question #1... 50 Research Question #2... 52 Research Question #3... 54 Limitations... 55 Further Research... 56 v

REFERENCES... 58 APPENDIX... 60 Recruitment email... 60 Survey... 61 vi

LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Usage of smartphone primary functions... 18 Table 2: Social media app usage... 19 Table 3: Video app usage... 20 Table 4: Dating app usage... 20 Table 5: News and reading app usage... 21 Table 6: Religious app usage... 22 Table 7: Frequency of consuming content from various categories (ordered by usage)... 23 Table 8: Frequency of content sharing on social media... 24 Table 9: Measures of compulsive smartphone use... 25 Table 10: Religious belief... 26 Table 11: Frequency of scripture study, prayer, and pondering... 26 Table 12: Reported duration of scripture study... 27 Table 13: Factors in religious experience... 27 Table 14: Proportion of gospel study on smartphones... 28 Table 15: Bivariate analysis of secular apps and Private Religiosity... 31 Table 16: Bivariate analysis of religious apps and Private Religiosity... 32 Table 17: Bivariate analysis of secular apps and Religious Experience... 33 Table 18: Bivariate analysis of religious apps and Religious Experience... 34 Table 19: Bivariate analysis of secular content and Private Religiosity... 35 Table 20: Bivariate analysis of religious content and Private Religiosity... 36 Table 21: Bivariate analysis of secular content and Religious Experience... 37 vii

Table 22: Bivariate analysis of religious content and Religious Experience... 38 Table 23: Bivariate analysis of content sharing and religiosity... 39 Table 24: Bivariate analysis of compulsive smartphone usage and Private Religiosity... 40 Table 25: Bivariate analysis of compulsive smartphone usage and Religious Experience... 41 Table 26: Regression analysis of secular apps/content and Private Religiosity... 44 Table 27: Regression analysis of religious apps/content and Private Religiosity... 45 Table 28: Regression analysis of secular apps/content and Religious Experience... 46 Table 29: Regression analysis of religious apps/content and Religious Experience... 47 viii

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual model of relationships between smartphone usage and religiosity... 12 ix

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Smartphones are owned by 86% of all American young adults (Anderson, 2015), and 96% of college students (Brooks, 2016). A recent study reported that American college and university students love their technology. Technology is woven into the fabric of modern society, and undergraduates are exceptional in their adoption of the technologies of the digital world. Those who embrace technology, by way of ownership and use, tend to own/use a lot of it (Brooks, 2016). Usage is high for a variety of reasons. One recent study found that 100% of smartphoneowning young adults used their devices for text messaging, 91% of them use social networking, and 47% used their phone to avoid interacting with the people around them. Seventy-five percent watch videos on their phones, and 64% listen to music or podcasts (Smith, 2015). The same study also found that young adult users report a wide variety of emotions associated with their smartphone usage, from productive, happy, and grateful, to distracted, frustrated, and even angry. The general leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recognized this potential of mobile devices to make a positive impact on the lives and religiosity of young people, recently implementing the use of ipads in church missions around the world, accompanied by training from mission leaders to help missionaries develop positive lifelong digital habits (More Missionaries Will Use ipads, Digital Devices to Preach Gospel, 2014). Some have also expressed concern, however. Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Church s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles recently posted on Facebook the following thought (Ballard, 2016): 1

You may consider asking yourself, honestly, how much time do you spend every day on your cell phone or tablet, not including school or Church work? Their use is appropriate, and they are a blessing. However, when smartphones begin to interfere with our relationships with friends and family and even more importantly, with God we need to make a change. For some of you, the adjustment will be slight; for others, it may be significant. I am also concerned that excessive text messaging, Facebooking, tweeting, and Instagramming are replacing talking talking directly one to another and talking in prayer with our Heavenly Father and thinking about the things that matter most in life. What I have learned most in my life came from listening to those with great experience, those who had lived longer and learned many important things that I needed to know. Please take advantage to visit and talk with your family. The Catholic Church has also recognized the impact of smartphones Pope Francis recently urged people to give the Bible the same place in daily life they give their phone, saying, What would happen if we turned back when we forget it, if we opened it more times a day, if we read the message of God contained in the Bible the way we read messages on our cellphones (Associated Press, 2017). Many studies have found factors that influence religiosity. For example, some varieties of media have been shown to have positive, indirect effects on religious faith through portraying prosocial values, while other more negative media, such as violent video games and pornography, have been shown to have a clear, direct negative correlation with religious faith (Barry, Padilla-Walker, & Nelson, 2012). Because smartphones are connecting people with media more than ever before, it is likely that smartphones also facilitate an increase of these effects on the religiosity of LDS young adults. Clearly smartphones are affecting lives in an increasing variety of ways, and are becoming nearly ubiquitous among LDS young adults. And with a range of factors shown to 2

impact religiosity, it is not a stretch to think that smartphone usage could also have both positive and negative impacts on religiosity. Studying the impact of smartphone usage on the religiosity of BYU students seems to be appropriate, relevant, and timely. Therefore, this study will examine three research questions: (1) How are young adults using smartphones? (2) What types of smartphone usage are negatively correlated with religiosity? (3) What types of smartphone usage are positively correlated with religiosity? Today s level of young adult smartphone usage does not appear to be slowing down tomorrow s average young adult (today s average teenager) spends about 3 hours and 27 minutes of time each day on a smartphone or tablet (The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens, 2015). Through the results of this study, leaders around the world both ecclesiastically and in education, along with young adults themselves will gain insight into the relationships between religiosity and various forms and degrees of smartphone usage. 3

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Previous research has revealed many effects of smartphone usage and many factors that affect religiosity, but studies looking for relationships between smartphone usage and religiosity are few. This review, therefore, will focus first on negative and positive effects of smartphone usage that may also be tied to religiosity, and then on factors shown to affect religiosity that may also be related to smartphone usage. The review will then conclude with some methodological and conceptual considerations rooted in the literature. Effects of Smartphone Usage As smartphone usage has become nearly ubiquitous in society, especially among young adults and college students, researchers have made efforts to understand its positive and negative effects. This review will first discuss findings about general smartphone and connected-device usage, then about more specific forms of usage, including media consumption, messaging and communication, and social network sites (SNSs). General usage A recent study revealed both positive and negative information about the effects of laptops, tablets, and smartphones on college students. This study, from the Educause Center for Analysis and Research (Brooks, 2016), found that students see technology as something that engages them in the learning process with their instructors, other students, and course content; enriches their learning experiences, and empowers them to take charge of their learning and to become better students. But on the other hand, this study also found that smartphones (and other 4

devices) can distract students from the learning process during class perhaps suggesting that some negative effects of smartphone use might simply be due to smartphones displacing users attention to their surroundings, or even displacing entire activities, from their lives. Researchers and thinkers have been speculating and studying the effects of this kind of distraction long before smartphones. In her book, Mindfulness, Langer (1989) detailed the effects of distraction, or inattentiveness to one s surroundings, using short anecdotes to argue that mindlessness inhibits self-image and leads to unintended cruelty, loss of control, and stunted potential. Building on Langer s thoughts, some have put forward the idea that the increasingly connected (and distracted) nature of the world is affecting not just individuals, but society. Though the word "smartphone does not appear in her book, Distracted, Jackson (2008) describes the way we live as being shaped by distraction, subject to the seduction of alternative virtual universes, the addictive allure of multitasking people and things, [and] our near-religious allegiance to a constant state of motion. Meetings, she says, are punctuated by pings and beeps and multitasking. She argues that the way we live is eroding our capacity for deep, sustained, perceptive attention the building block of intimacy, wisdom, and cultural progress. Because of mankind s increasing inability to focus, she argues, the world is heading toward a new dark age. In a study featuring subjects with much more extreme connected-device use, a team of researchers led by Dong (2012) looked for psychological effects of what they termed Internet addiction disorder (IAD). Dong and the research team found that IAD leads to less efficient information processing and reduced impulse inhibition. Lin (2012), led a team who took psychological and behavioral research one step further and looked into possible biological effects of IAD. After comparing images of the brains of adolescents both with and without IAD they 5

found that Internet addiction disorder in adolescents is associated with structural and functional changes in brain regions involving emotional processing, executive attention, decision making, and cognitive control. Smartphones are a natural facilitator of compulsive and problematic internet use, as they not only provide near-constant passive availability of web browsing, social media, video app usage, pornography, and gaming, but smartphones also regularly and actively notify users of internet-based content, drawing them back into the digital world when, without a smartphone, they likely would be otherwise engaged. Uhls (2014) led research into the effects screen time (and the lack thereof) has on preteen social skills, measuring subjects skills with non-verbal emotion cues before they spent five days at an outdoor camp, and measuring the skills again after the camp experience. During the study some of the subjects were not allowed devices, while others were allowed screen time. Uhls found that significant, consistent screen-time (including, but also extending beyond, the use of smartphones) worsens preteens understanding of and response to their peers non-verbal emotion cues, suggesting that screen time can in turn harm communication and relationships. Also of note is the short time in which statistically significant social progression or regression can happen in these preteens, it seems, from changes in their screen time habits. Media consumption Bobkowski (2014) wrote that religious mosaics may intensify and coalesce, or weaken and fragment, in response to the media messages that emerging adults select, process, and produce. Davignon (2013) recently searched for a relationship between watching R-rated movies and religiosity. He found that viewing R-rated movies leads to decreased church attendance and 6

decreased salience of religious faith, but does not seem to influence acceptance of religious beliefs. Coyne, Padilla-Walker, and Howard (2013) detailed recent studies of media use, effects (non-religious), and gratifications during emerging adulthood. Among other findings, they noted that 87% of men and 30% of women use pornographic media, and that 20% of men use it daily. High levels of pornography use, they wrote, is related to having more sexual partners and being more likely to endorse extramarital, premarital, and casual sexual behavior. They also pointed out that as little as 15 minutes of exposure to fitness and health magazines, and to media in general, is significantly associated with body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. In a 2009 paper Coyne and Ahmed cited research confirming that media is filled with violence, sex, language, and substance abuse (Coyne & Ahmed, 2009), and that exposure over time to these types of content has been shown to negatively affect attitudes and behavior (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). Barry, Nelson, Davarya, and Urry (2010) reviewed a variety of research about the influence of religion in the lives of young adults. They concluded that the media may have more direct influence on religiosity than parents. It is also important to note that while much research has been focused on the negative effects of modern media, positive effects have also been measured. The type of content consumed is crucial modern proliferation of media has brought with it more accessible positive educational content and content portraying prosocial values, which Mares and Woodard (2005) found is related to the media consumers attitudes and behavior. Messaging and Communication Coyne, Padilla-Walker, and Holmgren (2017) recently studied the effects of texting among adolescents in Washington, categorizing adolescent texting volume into four categories: 7

Perpetuals (14% of adolescents), Decreasers (7%), Moderates (68%), and Increasers (11%). Among other findings, they discovered that perpetual texting among adolescents is related to "higher depression, anxiety, aggression, and poor relationships with fathers. Coyne, Padilla-Walker, and Howard (2013) supposed that high media use among emerging adults about 12 hours each day, on average has changed the way emerging adults communicate during [emerging adulthood]. Social Network Sites Coyne, Padilla-Walker, and Howard (2013) also found that users of Social Network Sites (SNSs) usually increase their average face-to-face social time and report higher levels of social support, however the researchers acknowledge that this may not be dependent upon social media use but instead a result of the type of people using social media. Zhang, Johnson, Seltzer, and Bichard (2010) looked for relationships between SNS engagement and civic and political participation. They found that although reliance on SNSs does not predict an individual s political participation, it has a significant positive impact on civic participation behaviors such as volunteering or working on community projects. Factors related to religiosity Chadwick, Top, and McClendon s work, Shield of Faith (2010), is the result of seventeen years of studies, researching the relationship between religiosity and behavior in LDS youth and young adults, and is the most comprehensive look at this relationship to date. Among other findings, they conclude that religion is clearly a powerful deterrent to delinquency among LDS high school students, that members of the LDS Church have significantly more education than the general public, and that the more religious an LDS teenager is, the less likely that he or she 8

will engage in immoral behaviors. They noted that while students at BYU campuses in Idaho and in Hawaii report high rates of religiosity, those at the Provo campus of BYU report exceptionally high religiosity, perhaps due to the higher percentage of returned missionaries on the Provo campus. Almenayes (2014) found that religiosity shields people from the negative consequences of social media usage, and Bobkowski (2009) found that religious 16 18 year olds watch less sexuality and violence on television than do their less-religious peers. Barry, Nelson, Davarya, and Urry (2010) reviewed a variety of research about the influence of religion in the lives of young adults. They noted: religiosity and spirituality have been related to numerous positive life outcomes for emerging adults, such as healthy attitudes and behaviors as well as high self-esteem. Methodological Considerations None of the reviewed literature provided the type of comprehensive look at smartphone usage that this study undertakes. The instrument for measuring smartphone usage described in the next chapter, therefore, is original to this study. The Chadwick, Top, and McClendon studies (2010), however, provided a foundation for wide-ranging religiosity research among LDS young adults. Shield of Faith organized LDS young adult religiosity into five categories: religious belief, religious feeling and experiences, public religious behavior, private religious behavior, and religious social acceptance and plans. Religious experiences and private religious behavior are the categories most relevant to this study. The religious experiences category was measured through questions on topics such as being guided by the Spirit and knowing what it feels like to repent and be forgiven. To measure 9

private religious behavior the study asked about respondents regularity of prayer, scripture study, tithing, and fasting. Four categories of smartphone usage were selected for measurement and analysis: app/function usage, content consumption, content sharing, and compulsive use. As discussed above, media consumption has a variety of effects. App function/usage and content consumption have some overlap in the category of smartphone media consumption, but necessitated delineation for two reasons. First, apps individually often act as channels for a variety of different types of content, and different users of the same app may use the app for differing purposes. For example, while some users may use Snapchat to follow the LDS Church account, others may use it to follow pornographic accounts. Other apps are much more narrow in the content they deliver. The Gospel Library app is produced by the LDS Church and contains exclusively LDS content. Surveying respondents not just for their app usage, but also their types of content consumed, is therefore essential for more specific identification of factors that are related to religiosity. Surveying app usage, however, remains an important part of the study, as identifying which apps are better facilitators of content consumption that is related both positively and negatively to religiosity can help both young adults and leaders and educators alike. Either way, with the significant influence of media consumption described above on many aspects of life, it is anticipated that this study will reveal similarly strong positive and negative relationships with religiosity. It is also anticipated that because of religious emphasis at BYU, and because of BYU s honor code, that respondents in this sample will report significantly lower pornography consumption than reported among college students generally. In a survey of over 29,000 North American university students, Leahy (2009) found that 42% of male students and 20% of 10

women said they regularly read romance novels, sexually explicit magazines, or regularly visited sexually explicit websites or chat rooms. Though Leahy s statistics are not smartphoneexclusive, they do at least provide a picture into how prevalent pornography use is among college students. Content sharing was included in the study because, though the messaging discussed in the above review was focused on private messages, sharing public messages have not been studied for their influence on religiosity, though sharing these messages may have some of the same effects. This exploratory part of the study may reveal similar effects to those of messaging, or perhaps the public element of these messages may have completely different effects. Compulsive smartphone usage, both general usage and messaging-specific usage, was shown above to have serious effects, psychologically, biologically, and socially. It is anticipated that this study will reveal similar relationships between compulsive use and religiosity. It of course a possibility that the causal relationship exists from religiosity to smartphone usage, and not from smartphone usage to religiosity, in each of the above-mentioned categories. Figure 1 (below) describes the conceptual model thus formulated for this study: 11

Figure 1: Conceptual model predicting relationships between smartphone usage and religiosity Smartphone App/Function Usage Private Religiosity Smartphone Content Consumption Smartphone Content Sharing Smartphone Compulsive Use Religious Experience Conclusion This review indicates that general smartphone usage, along with more specific forms of usage, including media consumption, messaging and communication, and social network sites (SNSs), do have significant negative and positive effects on a variety of life outcomes. Many behaviors and attitudes have also been shown to have significant relationships with religiosity. A foundation for measuring religiosity has been described, along with a conceptual model, to study the hypothesis: that various forms and degrees of smartphone usage have significant positive and negative relationships with religiosity. 12

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY This section will describe the sample, survey creation, approval, distribution, and overview; and the instrument utilized. Sample The sample was gathered from BYU students enrolled in religion classes during Summer Term 2016 and Fall Semester 2016, with a total of 2,015 identified potential participants. Procedure Qualtrics Research Suite was selected for survey creation and distribution because of the comparative ease of creation and distribution, and the lack of any costs, such as paper, envelopes, and postage. Furthermore, gathered data from Qualtrics does not require transcription, but is easily exported in many different formats for easy analysis. The instrument was tested prior to survey distribution in the BYU Office of Institutional Assessment and Analysis by a test sample of student employees, and was approved by the thesis committee. Following IRB approval, religion professors were asked to forward the recruitment email to their students explaining the study and inviting students to follow a link and take the anonymous survey. Upon following the link, students were assured of their anonymity, given basic instructions for the survey, and then were presented the survey (see appendix). Survey length varied slightly depending on their responses, as some responses prompted follow-up questions that otherwise would not display. Topics of the survey included smartphone usage information, measures of 13

religiosity, and basic demographical information. Subjects were not compensated for participation. Instrument Since both religiosity and compulsive internet use have been previously studied, tested scales existed in each of these categories and were used where applicable, as described and cited below. Since Internet use does not represent all smartphone use, however, and since very little research has been done to examine relationships between smartphone use and religiosity especially among LDS young adults most scales and measures in this study were created specifically for this study. The hypothesis that various forms and degrees of smartphone usage will indeed have significant positive and negative relationships with religiosity was informed by previous research, and formed the thought behind the new scales and measures used in this study. The instrument in its entirety can be seen in the appendix. Smartphone Usage Subjects were first asked about their usage of 36 different apps in various categories such as communication, media consumption, gaming, reading, and religious. They then answered questions about their content consumption in 33 different categories. A seven-point scale allowed subjects to select any measure from Daily (3+ total hours) to Never. Subjects were then asked about which types of and how much content they consume, as measured on a fourpoint scale ( Often, Sometimes, Rarely, and Never ), and about how often they share user-generated content in social network apps/sites, as measured on a six-point scale from Three or more times a day to Never. This section then concluded by asking questions about compulsive smartphone use, specifically by asking to what degree they agree or disagree (on a 14

five-point scale) with seven statements such as I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task, and I feel compelled to respond immediately to any messages I receive. Religiosity Subjects were asked a variety of Christian- and LDS-specific questions relating to their feelings about core beliefs of the Church, their private religious behavior, and their personal religious experience. The first section asked to what degree they agree or disagree with five statements such as Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, and The Lord guides the Church today through revelations to Church Leaders. Private religious behavior was measured on five- and sevenpoint scales by whether and how often they participate in a variety of behaviors, including studying scriptures, praying privately, and thinking seriously about religion. Personal religious experience was measured in three ways. First, on a five-point agree/disagree scale with eight statements such as I know what it feels like to repent and be forgiven, and I feel the Spirit often during personal scripture study, second, on a six-point scale asking respondents to describe the extent to which they feel God s presence, find strength and comfort in their religion, and feel deep inner peace or harmony (Idler, et al., 2003), and third, on a six-point scale inquiring how recently they had six positive experiences such as looked for a stronger connection with God, and asked forgiveness for your sins, and seven more negative experiences such as wondered whether God had abandoned you, and wondered what you did for God to punish you (Pargament, Feuille, & Burdzy, 2011). 15

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS The purpose of the study was to explore how various forms of smartphone usage are positively or negatively related to private religiosity and religious experience. The first section of this chapter, Descriptive Data, describes the information gathered about respondents smartphone usage and their religiosity. In the second section, Factor Analysis, relevant religiosity data is organized into three, and eventually narrowed to two, religiosity constructs. The third section, Inferential Data, presents significant correlations between individual usage variables and these religiosity constructs as revealed through bivariate analysis, and the fourth section, Predictive Data, examines which variables have the strongest positive and negative relationships with each religiosity construct, as revealed through linear regression. Descriptive Data Sample and Demographics The sample was drawn from BYU students enrolled in religion classes during Summer Term 2016 and Fall Semester 2016, for a total of 2,015 potential participants. With 1029 responses (912 completed), the response rate was 51% (45% completed). Of the 1,029 respondents, 92% of respondents were white, 2% Asian, 1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, <1% Black or African American, and <1% American Indian or Alaska Native, with 4% answering other. The ethnicity of the sample is fairly representative of the BYU student body BYU reports 83% of the student body is Caucasian, 6% Hispanic, 3% Asian/Pacific Islander, <1% Black, and <1% Native American, with 5% reporting unknown/other (Facts and Figures, 2017). 16

Of the survey respondents, 40% reported that they were freshmen, 24% sophomores, 22% juniors, 14% seniors, and 1% graduate students. Fifty-eight percent of respondents were female (42% male), compared with 47% of the student body (53% male) (Facts and Figures, 2017). Forty-nine percent of respondents had served an LDS mission, and 25% responded I plan to. That the sample was freshmen-heavy meant lower percentages of returned missionaries. When adding the 25% who plan to serve missions, the 74% potential service percentage is well above the 63% of the entire student body who have served, as reported by BYU (Facts and Figures, 2017). Some of the gap between BYU s number and this potential number can be attributed to BYU not including those who planned to serve, but had not yet, and this freshmenheavy sample. This gap, then, does not seem to indicate a significant difference between the sample and the entire student body. The distribution of how recently missionaries had returned home was closely split between under a year (47%) and over a year (53%), with the largest measured category being 1 2 years, at 36% of respondents. Of the 47% who had returned within the last year, 24% had returned within six months. Seventeen percent were married at the time of the survey, 82% had never married, <1% were divorced, <1% were separated, and no respondents were widowed. Of those who were married 98% were married in an LDS temple. BYU reports that 24% of students are married (76% single) (Facts and Figures, 2017). Again, the discrepancy between this sample and the BYU student body can likely be attributed to the disproportionate number of freshmen in the sample. 17

Smartphone Usage Among those surveyed, 73% report owning an Apple iphone, 26% an Android device, and 1% a Windows phone, with the remaining 1% reporting other, but naming Androidspecific devices. Respondents who did not own a smartphone did not continue the survey. Of the smartphone-owning respondents, 87% have regularly used a smartphone for over a year, and 66% for over two years. Patterns and habits of smartphone usage have therefore been established enough in their lives to allow for relationships between their smartphone usage and their religiosity to be measured and reliable. Of the primary functions of a smartphone, four functions account for most daily usage (see Table 1). Ninety-two percent report using the Internet daily (with 26% using it for over three hours per day), 81% using email, 94% report using messaging, and 66% using their smartphone to listen to music. Thirty-nine percent use the camera every day, 20% play games, 15% use maps, and only 6% listen to podcasts every day. Daily (3+ total hours) Table 1: Usage of smartphone primary functions Daily (1 to 2 hours) Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total Internet 26% 32% 34% 92% 6% 1% 0% 1% 941 Email 5% 10% 66% 81% 14% 1% 2% 1% 942 Messaging 18% 31% 45% 94% 5% 0% 0% 0% 944 Music 21% 28% 17% 66% 18% 5% 6% 5% 942 Podcasts 1% 3% 2% 6% 7% 8% 23% 57% 934 Camera 2% 5% 32% 39% 44% 10% 6% 1% 941 Games 2% 7% 11% 20% 14% 11% 22% 33% 942 Maps 2% 3% 10% 15% 48% 30% 7% 1% 944 18

Among popular social network site (SNS) apps Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have significantly higher reported usage than any other SNS (Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, Vine, Other), with 66% of respondents reporting daily usage of Facebook (and 30% reporting over an hour each day), 51% reporting daily usage of Instagram (with 21% over an hour), and 48% reporting daily usage of Snapchat (with 23% over an hour). Though Snapchat has fewer users reporting daily usage than Facebook and Instagram, it nearly doubled Facebook and Instagram in respondents reporting over three hours per day in usage (7% to 4% and 4%, respectively). See Table 2 for complete statistics. Daily (3+ total hours) Daily (1 to 2 hours) Table 2: Social media app usage Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total Facebook 4% 26% 36% 66% 14% 4% 5% 11% 947 Twitter 1% 5% 9% 15% 4% 5% 9% 68% 944 Instagram 4% 17% 30% 51% 8% 3% 5% 33% 943 Snapchat 7% 16% 25% 48% 11% 3% 5% 33% 945 Pinterest 1% 4% 9% 14% 14% 8% 11% 53% 945 Reddit 1% 2% 1% 4% 1% 1% 2% 92% 945 Tumblr 1% 1% 1% 3% 2% 2% 3% 92% 944 Vine 0% 0% 0% 0% 2% 1% 6% 90% 945 Other social media 1% 1% 3% 5% 5% 3% 10% 76% 935 19

Sixteen percent reported using video streaming app YouTube for over an hour each day, and only 6% of respondents report never using YouTube on their smartphone (see Table 3). Sixteen percent also reported using Netflix over an hour per day. In the case of Netflix, however, adoption is not nearly as ubiquitous 43% of respondents report never using the service. Daily (3+ total hours) Daily (1 to 2 hours) Table 3: Video app usage Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total YouTube 5% 11% 16% 32% 36% 15% 11% 6% 946 Netflix 5% 11% 4% 20% 16% 9% 11% 43% 942 Other video streaming 1% 3% 4% 8% 9% 10% 17% 55% 944 Dating apps were not used much at all (see Table 4). The app Tinder is used, even occasionally, by only 10% of respondents, and 4% of those replied rarely. Four percent of respondents use other dating apps, none of which reported use over an hour per day. Daily (3+ total hours) Daily (1 to 2 hours) Table 4: Dating app usage Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total Tinder 0% 1% 2% 3% 2% 1% 4% 90% 944 Other dating app(s) 0% 0% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 96% 944 20

Seventeen percent use news apps every day (see Table 5), and 59% use them at least rarely. Reading app usage is similar, with 14% daily usage, and 54% occasional use. Table 5: News and reading app usage News app(s) or websites Reading app(s) or websites Daily (3+ total hours) Daily (1 to 2 hours) Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total 0% 5% 12% 17% 16% 12% 15% 41% 945 2% 5% 7% 14% 12% 13% 15% 46% 944 21

Sixty-two percent of respondents use Gospel Library every day, a significantly higher percentage than that observed of any other religious app (see Table 6). Only 6% of respondents reported using Gospel Library less than a few times a week and only 1% responding never. No other LDS app had over 50% of respondents reporting at least weekly usage, with LDS tools coming closest at 40%, followed by LDS Music at 31%. Daily (3+ total hours) Daily (1 to 2 hours) Table 6: Religious app usage Daily (under an hour) Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total Gospel Library 2% 15% 45% 62% 32% 4% 1% 1% 944 LDS Tools 0% 2% 7% 9% 31% 33% 15% 12% 943 LDS Music 0% 1% 4% 5% 26% 21% 20% 28% 940 Mormon Channel 0% 0% 2% 2% 7% 15% 28% 48% 942 Bible Videos 0% 0% 1% 1% 4% 14% 32% 49% 944 LDS Scripture Mastery 0% 0% 1% 1% 3% 6% 24% 66% 944 LDS Youth 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 6% 17% 74% 945 Mormon Tabernacle 0% 1% 1% 2% 5% 10% 15% 68% 945 Choir JustServe 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 2% 11% 85% 943 LDS Scripture Citation Index 0% 1% 1% 2% 4% 5% 12% 77% 945 Deseret Bookshelf 0% 0% 0% 0% 1% 2% 9% 88% 942 Other religious app(s) 0% 1% 2% 3% 5% 7% 14% 71% 942 Because apps can be used in a variety of different ways, the survey also asked about the types of content users look up on their smartphones (see Table 7). A different measure of religiosity would be expected, for example, from someone who follows primarily pornographic accounts than would be from someone who uses the same SNS but follows primarily religious accounts. 22

Table 7: Frequency of consuming content from various categories (ordered by usage) Often Sometimes Rarely Never Total Family members/friends 70% 21% 5% 3% 908 LDS teachings and doctrine 33% 42% 17% 8% 905 Music (Vevo, Billboard, Apple Music, MTV, etc.) 32% 26% 19% 23% 905 Education/DIY 20% 36% 24% 20% 904 Movies/Television (IMDB, itunes Trailers, etc.) 20% 33% 24% 24% 903 Health and Fitness 17% 34% 27% 22% 906 News/Journalism 17% 32% 29% 22% 903 Food 16% 35% 29% 20% 899 Comedy/Pranks 16% 29% 28% 27% 904 Outdoors/Adventure/Exploration 15% 31% 25% 29% 904 Photography 15% 26% 25% 33% 902 Politics 14% 30% 31% 26% 908 People you find attractive 13% 27% 27% 32% 907 Lifestyle/Beauty/Fashion 12% 20% 23% 45% 905 Sports (ESPN, teams/athletes...) 12% 17% 22% 49% 906 Science 10% 28% 29% 33% 904 Philosophy and thought 8% 26% 31% 36% 906 Homemaking 8% 19% 25% 48% 905 Brands/Products 7% 23% 34% 35% 902 Travel 7% 22% 31% 40% 903 Tech 7% 21% 31% 40% 906 Video gaming 7% 11% 18% 64% 902 LDS-related scholarly (Maxwell Institute, FAIR, etc.) 5% 18% 30% 48% 903 Business 5% 17% 25% 53% 900 Action Sports (X Games, GoPro, athletes...) 5% 12% 21% 63% 906 Other advocacy groups/personalities 4% 12% 24% 61% 905 Celebrity Accounts (Kim Kardashian, Jimmy Fallon, etc.) 4% 11% 21% 63% 905 LDS-related critical (Ordain Women, Mormon Stories, etc.) 3% 14% 24% 59% 906 Celebrity News (People Magazine, TMZ, etc.) 3% 11% 20% 66% 905 Other religious accounts (Pope Francis, OnFaith, etc) 2% 10% 26% 62% 906 Lingerie/Swimsuit 2% 9% 17% 72% 903 LGBT news or personalities 2% 7% 17% 74% 903 Erotic/Pornographic 1% 3% 7% 89% 905 23

The study also sought to learn whether one s regularity of sharing content on a SNS has any impact on religiosity (see Table 8). Most social media usage seems to be consumption-based, rather than sharing-based, with a very small minority of users sharing content at least once a day. Snapchat is an extreme outlier, however, with 45% of users sharing content at least once a day and 26% sharing at least three times a day. Table 8: Frequency of content sharing on social media Three or more times a day Once or twice a day Daily (total) A few times a week A few times a month Rarely Never Total Facebook 1% 1% 2% 14% 40% 35% 8% 809 Twitter 3% 7% 10% 14% 17% 31% 27% 287 Instagram 1% 1% 2% 17% 52% 24% 5% 608 Snapchat 26% 19% 45% 23% 11% 15% 5% 604 Pinterest 7% 9% 16% 17% 16% 22% 28% 434 Reddit 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 2% 98% 826 Tumblr 4% 9% 13% 11% 15% 24% 37% 75 Vine 1% 0% 1% 1% 7% 19% 72% 90 Other social media (please specify): 1% 3% 4% 4% 3% 3% 87% 181 24

The next questions in the survey sought to understand the compulsiveness of respondents smartphone usage (see Table 9). The data reveals that 63% of respondents are often distracted from other tasks by their smartphone, 79% often check their phone without a specific reason, that for 65% of respondents checking their phone is the last thing they do before falling asleep, and for 54% checking their phone is the first thing they do when they wake up. Table 9: Measures of compulsive smartphone use I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task I often check my phone without a specific reason (out of habit) Checking my phone is the last thing I do before I fall asleep Checking my phone is the first thing I do when I wake up (not including silencing an alarm) When I am not using my smartphone, I am thinking about using it or planning the next time I can use it. I feel compelled to answer any phone call I feel compelled to respond immediately to any messages I receive Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Total 21% 42% 17% 17% 4% 906 32% 47% 9% 10% 2% 907 31% 34% 12% 18% 5% 906 24% 30% 14% 26% 7% 906 3% 6% 17% 46% 28% 906 9% 21% 17% 30% 22% 907 7% 21% 22% 35% 14% 906 25

Religiosity Religiosity measurement initially focused on three different areas of religiosity: Religious Belief, Private Religiosity, and Religious Experience. Religious Belief questions yielded nearly uniform results, with between 89% and 94% strongly agreeing with each of the doctrinal statements (see Table 10). Since there was so little variance these questions were not included in the analysis. Table 10: Religious belief Strongly Agree Agree Mixed Feelings Disagree Strongly Disagree The Book of Mormon is the word of God 91% 6% 2% 1% 0% 916 Joseph Smith actually saw God the Father and Jesus Christ 89% 8% 2% 0% 0% 917 Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God 94% 4% 2% 0% 0% 916 The Lord guides the Church today through revelations to Church Leaders 90% 6% 3% 0% 1% 916 There is life after death 94% 5% 1% 0% 0% 915 Total Questions about Private Religiosity, though still generating heavily positive results, yielded more variability. Private Religiosity was measured by respondents regularity of scripture study, private prayer, and thinking seriously about religion (see Table 11). Ninety percent of respondents study the scriptures at least once a week, 95% pray privately at least once a week, and 97% think seriously about religion at least once a week. Table 11: Frequency of scripture study, prayer, and pondering Study the scriptures by yourself Pray privately (other than blessing on the food) Think seriously about religion Every day A few times a week Once a week At least weekly (total) 2-3 times a month About once a month Less than once a month Not at all Total 49% 36% 5% 90% 5% 1% 2% 1% 914 74% 17% 4% 95% 2% 1% 1% 0% 914 51% 37% 9% 97% 2% 1% 0% 0% 913 26

Of those who do study their scriptures, 44% normally take between 5 and 15 minutes to study, and 33% normally take between 15 and 30 minutes (see Table 12). Table 12: Reported duration of scripture study Percentage 5 minutes or less 9% 5 to 15 minutes 44% 15 to 30 minutes 33% 30+ minutes 13% Religious Experience was measured by several indicators found in Table 13. Those yielding the strongest agreement from respondents were I have been guided by the Holy Ghost in my decisions this past year and I am worthy of a temple recommend, each with 68% of respondents selecting Strongly agree. The option with least agreement, by far, was I can tell the difference between my personal feelings verses the promptings of the Spirit, as only 21% of respondents selected Strongly agree, and 34% did not agree. Table 13: Factors in religious experience I have been guided by the Holy Ghost in my decisions this past year I know what it feels like to repent and be forgiven I have felt the Spirit of God in Sacrament meeting frequently this past year I feel the Spirit often during personal scripture study I make a serious effort to keep the Sabbath Day holy I am worthy of a temple recommend I can tell the difference between my personal feelings verses the promptings of the Spirit I am often comforted by the Spirit through my challenges and trials Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Total 68% 24% 6% 1% 1% 916 63% 27% 8% 2% 1% 916 57% 29% 11% 3% 1% 915 41% 38% 16% 3% 1% 916 46% 34% 14% 4% 1% 915 68% 22% 6% 4% 1% 916 21% 45% 24% 8% 2% 916 55% 31% 11% 2% 1% 915 27

To examine whether smartphones affect the quality and impact of personal gospel study, the last religiosity question asked What proportion of your gospel study and reference is done on your smartphone, as opposed to in print publications, computers, or tablets? (see Table 14). Table 14: Proportion of gospel study on smartphones Percentage None of my gospel study and reference is done on my 10% smartphone Less than half 37% About half 21% More than half 24% All of my gospel study and reference is done on my 8% smartphone Inferential analysis and modeling Factor analysis of the dependent (religiosity) variables Before running bivariate and regressions analyses, factor analysis identified some common underlying factors within the measured religiosity variables. The religiosity data seemed to naturally fall into three categories: Private Religiosity, Religious Experience, and Religious Belief. Factor analysis (as detailed below) confirmed that the variables in each of these three constructs were indeed closely related, which justified the constructs and merited further analysis. The Religious Belief construct was removed from further examination, however, because there was very little variance across the scale 86% of respondents fell into the highest category of religious belief. The Private Religiosity construct consists of three indicators measured on a seven-point scale, from Every day to Not at all. Each question is shown below, with its respective measure of correlation to the single identified underlying factor (eigenvalue of 1.891; explains 28

63% of the variance), as found in the factor analysis: During the past year, how often did you do the following: (1) Study the scriptures by yourself (.864) (2) Pray privately (other than blessing on the food) (.864) (3) Think seriously about religion. (.632) This construct, therefore was validated for this study, as each of these data points exhibited strong correlation to the underlying factor. Cronbach s Alpha for this factor analysis is.699. One issue with this construct, however, is in its relationship with using religious apps and consuming religious content that clearly also count as study the scriptures by yourself within the Private Religiosity construct. The relationship is still valuable to discuss, however, because of the other factors within this construct, but the self-fulfilling relationship of one of the variables ought to be kept in mind. The Religious Experience construct contains eight data points measured on a five-point scale, from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Each question is shown below, with its respective measure of correlation to the single identified underlying factor (eigenvalue of 4.488; explains 56% of the variance), as found in the factor analysis: How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? (1) I have been guided by the Holy Ghost in my decisions this past year (.803) (2) I know what it feels like to repent and be forgiven (.718) (3) I have felt the Spirit of God in Sacrament meeting frequently this past year (.777) (4) I feel the Spirit often during personal scripture study (.766) (5) I make a serious effort to keep the Sabbath Day holy (.719) (6) I can tell the difference between my personal feelings verses the promptings of the 29

Spirit (.695) (7) I am often comforted by the Spirit through my challenges and trials (.810) (8) I am worthy of a temple recommend (.695) This construct also was validated for use in the bivariate and regression analyses, as each of these data points exhibited strong correlation to the underlying factor. Cronbach s Alpha for this factor analysis is.885. Bivariate Analysis: Smartphone usage and religiosity A simple bivariate analysis is most relevant statistical analysis to the research questions ( What types of smartphone usage are negatively correlated with religiosity? and What types of smartphone usage are positively correlated with religiosity? ) because it reveals the degree of correlation between each individual variable or construct. The following analysis looks at the association between religiosity (Private Religiosity and Religious Experience) and several areas of smartphone usage including app/function usage, content consumption, content sharing, and compulsive use. 30

The bivariate analysis first examined relationships between the usage of specific apps with the Private Religiosity construct. Tumblr, other video streaming, Netflix, Reddit, Snapchat, games, Internet, Tinder, YouTube, and Vine have a strong negative correlation with Private Religiosity (at the 0.01 level, in descending order), with Instagram and messaging also negatively correlating with Private Religiosity (significantly, but less so at the 0.05 level). See Table 15 (Private Religiosity is denoted as PriRel in tables). Table 15: Bivariate analysis of secular apps and Private Religiosity Internet Messaging Games Twitter Instagram Snapchat Pearson -.123 Correlation ** -.085 * -.145 ** -.114 ** -.086 * -.158 ** PriRel Sig. (2-tailed).000.012.000.001.010.000 N 885 886 885 887 885 888 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). PriRel Reddit Tumblr Vine YouTube Netflix Other Video Streaming Tinder Pearson Correlation -.159 ** -.231 ** -.092 ** -.095 ** -.184 ** -.191 ** -.105 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.000.006.004.000.000.002 N 888 886 887 889 886 887 888 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 31

The study found (see Table 16) that the use of Gospel Library, LDS Tools, Bible Videos, Mormon Channel, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LDS Music, other religious apps, LDS Scripture Citation index, and LDS Youth each have strong positive correlations with Private Religiosity (at the 0.01 level, in descending order), with Deseret Bookshelf and LDS Scripture Mastery also positively correlating (at the 0.05 level). Table 16: Bivariate analysis of religious apps and Private Religiosity Gospel Library LDS Tools LDS Music Mormon Channel Bible Videos LDS Scripture Mastery LDS Youth Pearson Correlation.276 **.242 **.176 **.207 **.216 **.067 *.105 ** PriRel Sig. (2- tailed).000.000.000.000.000.045.002 N 887 886 884 885 887 887 888 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Other LDS Scripture Citation Index Deseret Bookshelf religious app(s) Pearson Correlation.276 **.242 **.176 ** PriRel Sig. (2-tailed).000.000.000 N 887 886 884 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Non-significant Private Religiosity variables include Facebook, Pinterest, other social media, JustServe, music, podcasts, email, camera, maps, other dating apps, news, and reading. 32

Analysis of the relationships of these same apps with the Religious Experience construct (see Table 17; Religious Experience is denoted as RelExper in tables) found that the use of Tumblr, Reddit, games, Tinder, and other video streaming strongly and negatively correlate with Religious Experience (at the 0.01 level, descending order), with YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter also negatively correlating (at the 0.05 level). One app among these social and secular content apps, Pinterest, has a significant and strong positive relationship with Religious Experience. Table 17: Bivariate analysis of secular apps and Religious Experience RelExper Games Twitter Snapchat Pinterest Reddit Pearson Correlation -.120 ** -.067 * -.079 *.130 ** -.138 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.046.019.000.000 N 886 888 889 888 889 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). RelExper Tumblr YouTube Other Video Streaming Tinder Pearson Correlation -.196 ** -.083 * -.103 ** -.120 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.014.002.000 N 887 890 888 889 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 33

The study found that the following variables (including Pinterest) each exhibit a strong positive correlation to Religious Experience (at the 0.01 level; in descending order): the use of Bible Videos, Gospel Library, Mormon Channel, LDS Tools, LDS Music, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, LDS Youth, Pinterest, Deseret Bookshelf, LDS Scripture Mastery, LDS Scripture Citation Index, and other religious apps, with JustServe usage also positively correlating (at the 0.05 level), as shown in Table 18. Table 18: Bivariate analysis of religious apps and Religious Experience Gospel Library LDS Tools LDS Music Mormon Channel Bible Videos LDS Scripture Mastery LDS Youth Pearson Correlation.277 **.254 **.218 **.259 **.282 **.114 **.153 ** RelExper Sig. (2- tailed).000.000.000.000.000.001.000 N 888 887 885 886 888 888 889 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). RelExper Mormon Tabernacle Choir Other religious app(s) LDS Scripture JustServe Citation Index Deseret Bookshelf.201 **.081 *.112 **.129 **.104 ** Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed).000.016.001.000.002 N 889 887 889 886 886 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Non-significant Religious Experience variables are internet, messaging, music, podcasts, email, camera, maps, Facebook, Instagram, Vine, other social media, Netflix, other dating apps, news, and reading. 34

Bivariate Analysis: Smartphone content consumption and religiosity The apps studied above are channels that provide a variety of content. Perhaps the correlations observed above are indicators of the types of content most frequently consumed through those channels. The next step in the bivariate analysis focused on specific types of content consumption. The study found that consuming content from the following categories is strongly and negatively correlating (at the 0.01 level, in descending order) to Private Religiosity: LGBT news or personalities, erotic/pornographic, video gaming, other advocacy groups/personalities, celebrity accounts, and lingerie/swimsuit (see Table 19). Celebrity news, lifestyle/beauty/fashion, people you find attractive, movies/television, and photography also negatively correlate with Private Religiosity (at the 0.05 level). PriRel Table 19: Bivariate analysis of secular content and Private Religiosity Movies/ Television (IMDB, itunes Trailers, etc.) Video Gaming Celebrity Accounts (Kim Kardashian, Jimmy Fallon, etc.) Lingerie/ Swimsuit Photography Pearson Correlation -.071 * -.074 * -.169 ** -.104 ** -.098 ** Sig. (2-tailed).036.029.000.002.004 N 874 875 874 877 875 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). LGBT news or personalities Celebrity News (People Magazine, TMZ, etc.) Lifestyle/ Beauty/ Fashion People you find attractive Erotic/ Pornographic Other advocacy groups/ personalities Pearson Correlation -.239 ** -.083 * -.080 * -.075 * -.226 ** -.129 ** PriRel Sig. (2- tailed).000.014.018.025.000.000 N 875 878 878 880 878 879 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 35

Further analysis revealed that consuming content from the following categories correlates strongly and positively with Private Religiosity (at the 0.01 level, in descending order): LDS teachings and doctrine, and LDS-related scholarly (see Table 20). Table 20: Bivariate analysis of religious content and Private Religiosity PriRel LDS teachings and doctrine LDS-related scholarly (Maxwell Institute, FAIR, etc.) Pearson Correlation.326 **.155 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.000 N 877 875 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Non-significant Private Religiosity variables include viewing content from the following categories: family members and friends, sports, action sports, philosophy and thought, politics, tech, science, news/journalism, travel, LDS-related critical, other religious accounts, brands/products, comedy/pranks, food, business, homemaking, outdoors/adventure/exploration, music, health and fitness, and education/diy (do-it-yourself). 36

The study then looked at the relationshps of the same types of content consumption with Religious Experience and found that viewing content from the following categories strongly and negatively correlates Religious Experience with (at the 0.01 level, in descending order): erotic/pornographic, LGBT news or personalities, video gaming, other advocacy groups/personalities, science, tech, politics, and people you find attractive (see Table 21). Movies/television and news/journalism also negatively correlate with Religious Experience (at the 0.05 level). One type of content among these forms of primarily secular content, homemaking, has a significant and strong positive relationship with Religious Experience. Table 21: Bivariate analysis of secular content and Religious Experience Movies/ Television Politics Tech Science News/ Journalism Homemaking (IMDB, itunes Trailers, etc.) Pearson -.097 Correlation -.110 ** -.112 ** -.077 *.112 ** -.077 * RelExper Sig. (2-tailed).004.001.001.022.001.022 N 881 879 877 876 878 876 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Video Gaming LGBT news or personalities People you find attractive Erotic/ Pornographic Other advocacy groups/ personalities Pearson Correlation -.166 ** -.227 ** -.087 ** -.277 ** -.121 ** RelExper Sig. (2- tailed).000.000.009.000.000 N 875 876 881 879 880 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 37

Including homemaking, the data showed that consuming content from the following categories is strongly and positively correlated (at the 0.01 level, in descending order) with Religious Experience (see Tables 21 and 22): LDS teachings and doctrine, LDS-related scholarly, and homemaking. Table 22: Bivariate analysis of religious content and Religious Experience RelExper LDS teachings and doctrine LDS-related scholarly (Maxwell Institute, FAIR, etc.) Pearson Correlation.272 **.146 ** Sig. (2-tailed).000.000 N 878 876 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Non-significant religious experience variables include viewing content from the following categories: family members and friends, sports, action sports, philosophy and thought, travel, LDS-related critical, other religious accounts, brands/products, comedy/pranks, food, business, photography, outdoors/adventure/exploration, celebrity accounts, lingerie/swimsuit, music, celebrity news, lifestyle/beauty/fashion, health and fitness, and education/diy (do-ityourself). 38

Bivariate Analysis: Sharing content on social networks and religiosity The study also sought to understand if sharing content on SNSs has any relationship with religiosity. The data revealed no significant negative correlations between sharing and Private Religiosity or Religious Experience, and only one positive correlation (at the 0.05 level), between sharing on Pinterest and Religious Experience (see Table 23). PriRel RelExper Table 23: Bivariate analysis of content sharing and religiosity Facebook Twitter Instagram Snapchat Pearson Correlation.060 -.043 -.046 -.042 Sig. (2-tailed).091.475.259.306 N 790 277 592 588 Pearson Correlation.057.016.034 -.038 Sig. (2-tailed).108.785.408.358 N 791 276 592 589 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Pinterest Reddit Tumblr Vine Other social media (please specify): Pearson Correlation.060 -.005 -.219 -.090 -.032 PriRel Sig. (2- tailed).217.895.062.409.678 N 424 808 73 87 175 Pearson Correlation.096 * -.015 -.119.183 -.066 RelExper Sig. (2- tailed).047.670.312.090.386 N 425 809 74 87 176 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 39

Bivariate Analysis: Compulsive smartphone use and religiosity The study found that most forms of compulsive smartphone use have strong, negative relationships (at the 0.01 level) with Private Religiosity. In descending order, these forms of use are Checking my phone is the last thing I do before I fall asleep, Checking my phone is the first thing I do when I wake up (not including silencing an alarm), I often check my phone without a specific reason (out of habit), and I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task (see Table 24). When I am not using my smartphone, I am thinking about using it or planning the next time I can use it is also negatively related to Private Religiosity (at the 0.05 level). Table 24: Bivariate analysis of compulsive smartphone usage and Private Religiosity I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task Checking my phone is the last thing I do before I fall asleep Checking my phone is the first thing I do when I wake up (not including silencing an alarm) I often check my phone without a specific reason (out of habit) When I am not using my smartphone, I am thinking about using it or planning the next time I can use it. Pearson Correlation -.094 ** -.144 ** -.116 ** -.104 ** -.079 * PriRel Sig. (2- tailed).005.000.001.002.018 N 888 888 888 889 888 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). 40

Data also showed that some forms of compulsive smartphone use have strong and negative relationships (at the 0.01 level) with Religious Experience (see Table 25), but less severely than they are to Private Religiosity. These forms of use are, in descending order, Checking my phone is the last thing I do before I fall asleep, and Checking my phone is the first thing I do when I wake up (not including silencing an alarm). Religious Experience is also negatively related (at the 0.05 level) to I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task. Table 25: Bivariate analysis of compulsive smartphone usage and Religious Experience I am often distracted by my smartphone when trying to study, work, or do some other task Checking my phone is the last thing I do before I fall asleep Checking my phone is the first thing I do when I wake up (not including silencing an alarm) Pearson -.078 Correlation * -.103 ** -.094 ** RelExper Sig. (2-tailed).020.002.005 N 889 889 889 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Non-significant Religious Experience variables include both I often check my phone without a specific reason (out of habit) and When I am not using my smartphone, I am thinking about using it or planning the next time I can use it. Considering all data, the smartphone usage behaviors that have the strongest correlations with Private Religiosity, negative or positive are, in descending order: 1. LDS teachings and doctrine content consumption (positive) 2. using the Gospel Library app (positive) 3. using the LDS Tools app (positive) 4. LGBT news or personalities content consumption (negative) 5. using the Tumblr app (negative) 41

6. erotic/pornographic content consumption (negative) 7. using the Bible Videos app (positive) 8. using the Mormon Channel app (positive) 9. using the Netflix app (negative) 10. consuming content about video gaming (negative) The smartphone usage behaviors that have the strongest associations with Religious Experience, negative or positive are, in descending order: 1. using the Bible Videos app (positive) 2. (tie) using the Gospel Library app (positive) / (tie) erotic/pornographic content consumption (negative) 3. (tie above) 4. LDS teachings and doctrine content consumption (positive) 5. using the Mormon Channel app (positive) 6. using the LDS Tools app (positive) 7. LGBT news or personalities content consumption (negative) 8. using the LDS music app (positive) 9. using the Mormon Tabernacle Choir app (positive) 10. using the Tumblr app (negative) 42

Regression Analysis Linear regression takes the bivariate analysis a step further and reveals not only how often these variables occur together, but also the degree to which they affect each other, within the context of the other variables. The output reveals how much the dependent variables (Private Religiosity and Religious Experience) can be expected to vary with any change to the independent smartphone usage variables. In other words, the regression reveals not which measures of usage are most frequently connected to the measures of religiosity, but which measures have the strongest influence on religiosity. When regressing every variable of smartphone usage with Private Religiosity, and again with religious experience, the difference between the R Square and the Adjusted R Square in each of these regressions suggests that some of the smartphone usage variables are redundant. After running the regressions again, including only the most significant (0.05 or better) smartphone usage variables, the R Square and the Adjusted R Square values were nearly identical, indicating that removal of other less-significant variables had properly identified the most influential usage variables. In each regression, ANOVA yielded a significance of 0.000, suggesting that these smartphone usage variables have significant and strong predictive power of both Private Religiosity and Religious Experience. 43

Smartphone Usage Relationships with Private Religiosity When Private Religiosity was regressed on each of these variables the study found that though the variables mentioned in the bivariate analysis are the most frequently observed with Private Religiosity the variables with the strongest negative relationship to Private Religiosity are (in descending order; see Table 26): consuming erotic/pornographic content (beta: -.182, significance:.000), consuming content from LGBT news or personalities (beta: -.179, significance:.000), using Snapchat (beta: -.130, significance:.000), using the Netflix app (beta: -.128, significance: 0.000), and consuming content about video gaming (beta: -.099, significance:.003). The Adjusted R Square value reveals that these variables together explain 13.2% of the variability in Private Religiosity. Table 26: Regression analysis of secular apps/content and Private Religiosity Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta t Sig. (Constant) 7.243.090 80.599 0.000 Snapchat -.048.013 -.130-3.674.000 Netflix -.051.014 -.128-3.748.000 Video gaming content -.084.028 -.099-2.978.003 LGBT news or personalities -.192.036 -.179-5.322.000 Erotic/Pornographic -.275.051 -.182-5.398.000 Dependent Variable: PriRel n=865 The B value can be used to predict how much a dependent variable (a religiosity construct) will change based on a corresponding change of a single independent variable (a specific smartphone usage category) with all other independent variables held constant. Using the B value for the relationship between erotic/pornographic content and Private Religiosity (B = -.275, see Table 26), this regression model predicts that if a LDS young adult were to decrease 44

his/her erotic/pornographic content consumption on his/her smartphone by one place on the initial scale (Often/Sometimes/Rarely/Never), holding all other variables constant, his/her reported Private Religiosity would increase by 0.275 places on the initial seven-point survey scale (Every day/a few times a week/once a week/2 3 times a month/about once a month/less than once a month/not at all), a significant amount on a seven-point scale, and just from this one variable. A former often pornography consumer who stops consuming that content could expect to move 1.1 places up the private religiosity scale, just from this one change. Someone increasing his/her pornography consumption could expect a similar decline of Private Religiosity. The regression analysis also revealed the variables with the strongest positive relationship to Private Religiosity (in descending order; see Table 27): consuming LDS teachings and doctrine content (beta:.240, significance:.000), using the Gospel Library app (beta:.149, significance:.000), using the LDS Tools app (beta:.124, significance:.000), and using the Mormon Tabernacle Choir app (beta:.094, significance:.003). The Adjusted R Square value reveals that these variables together explain 16% of the variance in Private Religiosity. Table 27: Regression analysis of religious apps/content and Private Religiosity Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta t Sig. (Constant) 4.782.138 34.710.000 Gospel Library.126.028.149 4.463.000 LDS Tools.083.022.124 3.725.000 Mormon Tabernacle Choir.071.024.094 2.950.003 LDS teachings and doctrine.205.028.240 7.282.000 Dependent Variable: PriRel n=873 45

Using the B value for LDS teachings and doctrine (B =.205, see Table 36), this regression model predicts that if Subject A were to increase his/her LDS teachings and doctrine content consumption on his/her smartphone by one place on the initial scale (Often/Sometimes/Rarely/Never), his/her reported Private Religiosity would increase by.205 places on the initial seven-point survey scale (Every day/a few times a week/once a week/2 3 times a month/about once a month/less than once a month/not at all) an impact nearly as positive as pornography consumption is negative. Smartphone Usage Relationships with Religious Experience When Religious Experience was regressed on each of these variables the data revealed the variables with the strongest negative relationship to religious experience (in descending order; see Table 28): consuming erotic/pornographic content (beta: -.214, significance:.000), consuming content from LGBT news or personalities (beta: -.172, significance:.000), and consuming content about video gaming (beta: -.103, significance:.002). The Adjusted R Square value reveals that these variables together explain 11.4% of the variability in Private Religiosity. Table 28: Regression analysis of secular apps/content and Religious Experience Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta t Sig. (Constant) 4.928.062 79.548 0.000 Video gaming content -.071.023 -.103-3.136.002 LGBT news or personalities -.150.029 -.172-5.239.000 Erotic/Pornographic -.262.041 -.214-6.417.000 Dependent Variable: RelExper n=870 46

Using the B value for erotic/pornographic content (B = -.262, see Table 28), this regression model predicts that if Subject A were to decrease his/her erotic/pornographic content consumption on his/her smartphone by one place on the initial scale (Often/Sometimes/Rarely/Never), his/her reported Religious Experience would increase by.262 places on its seven-point scale. The linear regression also revealed that the variables with the strongest positive relationship to Religious Experience are (in descending order; see Table 29): using the Bible Videos app (beta:.198, significance:.000), using the Gospel Library app (beta:.177, significance:.000), and consuming LDS teachings and doctrine content (beta:.172, significance:.000). The Adjusted R Square value reveals that these variables together explain 15% of the variance in Private Religiosity. Table 29: Regression analysis of religious apps/content and Religious Experience Standardized Unstandardized Coefficients Coefficients B Std. Error Beta t Sig. (Constant) 3.105.112 27.738.000 Gospel Library.123.023.177 5.348.000 Bible Videos.145.024.198 6.027.000 LDS teachings and doctrine.121.023.172 5.205.000 Dependent Variable: RelExper n=876 Using the B value for the Bible Videos app (B =.145, see Table 38), this regression model predicts that if Subject A were to increase his/her usage of the Bible Videos app by one place on the initial scale (Often/Sometimes/Rarely/Never), his/her reported Religious Experience would increase by.145 places on its seven-point scale. 47

With all regression results considered together, the smartphone usage behaviors that have the greatest impact on both Private Religiosity and Religious Experience, negative or positive (using the B values from the regression) are, in descending order: 1. erotic/pornographic content consumption (negative) 2. LDS teachings and doctrine content consumption (positive) 3. LGBT news or personalities content consumption (negative) 4. using the Bible Videos app (positive) 5. using the Gospel Library app (positive) 6. Video gaming content consumption (negative) 7. using the LDS Tools app (positive) 8. using the Mormon Tabernacle Choir app (positive) 9. using the Netflix app (negative) 10. using the Snapchat app (negative) The smartphone usage changes that will make the most significant positive impact on the Religious Experience of LDS Young Adults are, in order: 1. Decreasing consumption of erotic/pornographic content 2. Decreasing LGBT news or personalities content consumption 3. Increasing usage of the Bible Videos app 4. Increasing usage of the Gospel Library app 5. Increasing consumption of LDS teachings and doctrine content 6. Decreasing consumption of content about Video gaming 48

Conclusion Both the bivariate analysis and the linear regression confirmed the hypothesis, revealing both significant positive and negative relationships between specific forms of smartphone usage and religiosity. 49

CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION The study began with two research questions: (1) What types of smartphone usage are negatively correlated with religiosity? and (2) What types of smartphone usage are positively correlated with religiosity? This chapter will first answer these research questions, then identify factors with the greatest general influence, negative or positive, on religiosity. The limitations of the study will then be discussed, along with directions for future research. Research Question #1 How are young adults using smartphones? Among BYU students, Facebook dominates social media. Two-thirds of students access Facebook at least daily, and only 11% never use it. Next closest are Instagram (51% daily, 33% never) and Snapchat (48% daily, 33% never). Facebook and Instagram are each high consumption and low sharing SNSs only 2% of Facebook users and 2% of Instagram users report daily sharing. But 45% of Snapchat users report daily sharing, and Snapchat also has nearly double the amount of 3+ hours a day users as Facebook and Instagram, suggesting that Snapchat may facilitate longer periods of in-app engagement. Gospel Library app use is nearly as prevalent as Facebook use, with 62% using it every day. And it reaches further than Facebook only 1% report never using it. Fifty-three percent report that at least half of their gospel study is done on their smartphone; only 10% report never studying the gospel on their smartphone. Also interesting is that while 17% often or sometimes consume "LDS-related critical (Ordain Women, Mormon Stories, etc.) content, this content does not seem to be having a 50

significant effect, in its statistical correlations or in a simple comparison with reported belief: among all respondents, every measure of belief came in at 96% or higher in agreement, and over 90% participate in prayer, scripture study, and/or thinking seriously about religion every week. Perhaps critical content is not as impactful on more educated, critically thinking consumers. Or perhaps BYU s faithful environment has provided tools to help consumers better sift through information that is presented. Four percent often or sometimes consume erotic/pornographic content. Nine percent consume content from LGBT news or personalities, and 11% consume Lingerie/Swimsuit content. Though this usage was so low, it is notable that correlations were so strong for these categories of content consumption that the statistical tests still clearly confirmed their negative relationships with religiosity. Only 20% of college students often use their smartphones to look up Education/DIY content. Because this study is smartphone-usage exclusive, however, it seems likely that students are looking up that educational content some other way. Brooks (2016) research seems to agree: Of the devices owned by students, laptops continue to be the academic workhorse. The study also supports the hypothesis that pornography usage would be significantly lower among BYU students than among college students generally Leahy (2009) reported that among North American college students 42% of males and 20% of females regularly view pornography. Though the statistics do not compare directly certainly not all of that pornography content consumption is through a smartphone such heavy smartphone usage for all types of content, as described above, suggests that a good portion of it probably is. 51

Research Question #2 What types of smartphone usage are negatively correlated with religiosity? Among apps, Netflix and Snapchat have the strongest negative relationship with Private Religiosity. As discussed in the previous section, usage data suggests that Snapchat may simply be used for longer durations of time than other apps. The negative relationship may, therefore, have less to do with content, and more to do with Snapchat replacing time that may otherwise be used for scripture study, praying, or thinking seriously about religion. Netflix s relationship may also come from time replacement, as opposed to content consumed: Four out of every five respondents who reported daily usage of the Netflix app reported that they used Netflix for over an hour each day. It is also interesting to note that though the relationships between Snapchat, Netflix, and Private Religiosity are very strong, neither app has a significant relationship with Religious Experience. Perhaps in answering the Religious Experience questions respondents more often rely on a past high-water mark of spirituality, rather than their current, day-to-day feelings and experiences. Looking beyond these two apps, the data show that the type of content consumed has a significantly stronger relationship with religiosity than does specific app usage. Erotic/pornographic content consumption has the strongest negative relationship with religiosity of any of the surveyed uses of smartphones. General negative effects of consuming erotic/pornographic content are well-chronicled in other research, but considering its relationship with LDS doctrine may help explain why its impact is so strong in this study. LDS doctrine teaches that the work and glory of God is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39), and that that part of eternal life is a marriage relationship of 52

complete fidelity between a man and a woman. Church doctrine holds that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between a man and a woman, lawfully married as husband and wife (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1995), An official Church publication (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004) states that [pornography] is as harmful to the spirit as tobacco, alcohol, and drugs are to the body, that using pornographic material in any way is a violation of a commandment of God, and that members of the Church should avoid pornography in any form and should oppose its production, distribution, and use. Thus, consumption of erotic/pornographic content is not only in opposition to Church instruction, but to Church philosophy and doctrine to the core beliefs of most BYU students. Surely trying to live a life both high in both religiosity and in pornography consumption, for a Latter-day Saint, would create an internal dissonance would be difficult to live with. Consuming content from LGBT news or personalities is nearly as strongly (and negatively) related to religiosity as erotic/pornographic content, and again, likely due to the Church s clear doctrine regarding sexual behavior being limited to a legal marriage between a man and a woman, and the resulting dissonance between the messages respondents receive from LGBT news or personalities and those they receive from the Church. Consuming content about video gaming (not playing video games) has the thirdstrongest negative relationship with religiosity perhaps indicating that casual gamers (even if they spend significant amounts of time gaming) do not suffer the same religiosity consequences as do those who consume significant amounts of gaming news, industry, design, strategy, and/or personalities content. What remains unknown, as with Snapchat and Netflix, is whether the negative relationships are connected primarily to increased time replacement or to the content itself. 53

Though 66% of respondents listen to music daily, no significant correlation exists between listening to music and religiosity. Notably, 65% agree or strongly agree that checking their phone is the last thing they do before they fall asleep. Of the measures of compulsive smartphone use, this measure has the strongest negative relationship with religiosity. Perhaps in this case the negative relationship also stems from time replacement. Or, perhaps, without pressing appointments or task lists, what a respondent does right before sleeping may be an indication of what their interests really are, and in what they are most invested. Research Question #3 What types of smartphone usage are positively correlated with religiosity? Most of the results here were expected: using religious apps and consuming religious content is positively related to religiosity. More surprising is that two forms of secular usage, using the Pinterest app and consuming homemaking content, also have strong positive relationships with religiosity. Perhaps the most interesting of the positive relationships between different religious apps/content and religiosity is that using the Bible Videos app has a slightly stronger positive relationship than does using the Gospel Library app. This does not mean, however, that Latterday Saints should immediately replace their scripture study with watching Bible Videos. In trying to understand this relationship, it is important to understand that usage of one of these apps does not exclude the usage of the other. Since Latter-day Saints are often instructed to study the scriptures many Church texts include it as a commandment but not instructed to watch Bible Videos (the videos are provided as a resource), perhaps those watching Bible Videos are not replacing their scripture study with Bible Video viewing but rather are those respondents 54

who are already taking time to read their scriptures. The more religious respondents might then take more time outside of scripture study using apps like the Bible Videos app or consuming similar Church content, instead of spending time on Netflix, Snapchat, or some other secular time replacement. Limitations Although correlations between smartphone usage and religiosity have been clearly observed, and regression has helped reveal to what degree smartphone usage appears to influence religiosity, it remains difficult to determine causality. Davignon points out: Any cross-sectional examination of religiosity and media cannot determine if consumption of certain types of media content lead people to be less religious, or whether people who are less religious are led to consume certain types of media content (Davignon, 2013). Barry, Padilla-Walker, and Nelson, however, point out the value of the correlations even in the absence of clear causality: Although the cross-sectional design makes it impossible to determine the direction of effects, scholars should continue to examine the values that are promoted by negative media use (e.g., hedonism or stimulation values), and how this may relate to emerging adults beliefs and behaviors (Barry, Padilla-Walker, & Nelson, 2012). In 2007 Slater looked at neither media consumption nor its supposed effects as the independent variable. Rather, he proposed an interesting theory that the relationship between media use and its effects is a reinforcing spiral. In other words, media use impacts choices, which in turn impact future media use, which begins an enduring cycle (Slater, 2007). If this is true, then smartphone usage and religiosity will have a strong relationship, as subjects would likely use their smartphones in ways that align with and reinforce their beliefs, which would in turn grow stronger and manifest themselves in the subjects smartphone usage decisions. 55

Another study revealed an underlying factor that could be behind some of the effects of smartphone usage found in this study: Gender and family structure have both been associated with cell phone use, with girls and children from single-parent families sending more texts than boys and children from two-parent families (Padilla-Walker, Coyne, Fraser, Dyer, & Yorgason, 2012). Perhaps family situation could be more of a factor in religiosity, with smartphone usage simply another effect of family situation. Certain limitations also exist in the statistical analysis. First, that the correlations shown are relationships between averages within different categories, which averages are of course useful and do have relationships described throughout the paper, but may not clearly define the extremes of variability found within each data set. Also, the usage of some apps was limited to a small percentage of respondents, which may have decreased the number of data sets included in one or two of the regressions run in SPSS. Each reported result, however, was shown above with its corresponding statistical significance, and suggests that the relationships described above are indeed significant in this sample. Sample selection was not completely random, as the survey was distributed through the Religious Education faculty to students enrolled in religion classes during Summer Term and Fall Semester, 2016. Further Research Results of the study could be improved through longitudinal studies and experimental designs. Also, researchers could expand the scope of this study to students of other religions, at other universities, to young adults of the same age range but not enrolled in college, to variability between genders, family backgrounds, and upbringing, and to possibly include overall quality of life and academic performance. Parents of the respondents could be surveyed regarding the rules 56

they set for smartphone usage to better understand the impact of various parenting philosophies. Surveying respondents for their perceptions of their parents smartphone habits (when the subjects still lived at home) may also help parents, educators, and leaders understand what policies and behaviors from parents are typically successful or harmful. Complementary studies could seek to understand psychological influences between smartphone usage and religiosity how smartphone usage is affecting identity, belief, thoughts, and even shame, and then how those in turn affect religiosity. LDS-specific researchers might study the impact of smartphones on the quality of respondents scripture study. Parents may be interested in research regarding whether Snapchat s and Netflix s negative relationships with Private Religiosity are rooted primarily in the content delivered within these services, or the time typically spent in each of these apps. A study comparing the effects of "LDS-related critical (Ordain Women, Mormon Stories, etc.) on people of different levels of and places of education would also be very interesting, to see if perhaps it is the critical thinking skills of university students in general, or the faithful environment of BYU that led to the minimal impact shown in this study. Or that perhaps LDSrelated critical content is not very impactful (on a large scale) at all. Following the completion of this study the LDS Church released a new LDS Media app that should be included in further studies. 57

REFERENCES Almenayes, J. J. (2014, May). Religiosity and the Perceived Consequences of Social Media Usage in a Muslim Country. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 3(5), 108 117. Anderson, M. (2015). Technology Device Ownership: 2015. Washington D.C.: Pew Research Center. Associated Press. (2017, March 5). Pope urges faithful to consult Bible as often as cellphones. Retrieved March 5, 2017, from KSL.com: http://www.ksl.com/?sid=43386360&nid=1016&title=pope-urges-faithful-to-consultbible-as-often-as-cellphones Ballard, M. R. (2016, November 30). Facebook. Retrieved from https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=582650291923716&id=137920063063410 Barry, C. M., Nelson, L., Davarya, S., & Urry, S. (2010). Religiosity and spirituality during the transition to adulthood. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34(4), 311 324. Barry, C. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Nelson, L. J. (2012). The Role of Mothers and Media on Emerging Adults Religious Faith and Practices by Way of Internalization of Prosocial Values. Journal of Adult Development, 19, 66 78. Bobkowski, P. S. (2009). Adolescent Religiosity and Selective Exposure to Television. Journal of Media and Religion, 8, 55 70. Bobkowski, P. S. (2014). Faith in the Digital Age: Emerging Adults' Religious Mosiacs and Media Practices. In C. M. Barry, & M. M. Abo-Zena, Emerging Adults' Religiousness and Spirituality: Meaning-Making in an Age of Transition (pp. 93 108). New York: Oxford University Press. Brooks, D. C. (2016). ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2016. Louisville, CO: Educase Center for Analysis and Research. Bushman, B., & Anderson, C. (2001). Media violence and the American public: scientific fact versus media misinformation. American Psychologist, 56, 477 489. Chadwick, B. A., Top, B. L., & McClendon, R. J. (2010). Shield of Faith. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. Coyne, S. M., & Ahmed, T. (2009). Fancy a pint? : alcohol use and smoking in soap operas. Addiction Research and Theory, 17, 345 359. Coyne, S. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Holmgren, H. G. (2017). Longitudinal Growth Mixture Modeling of Texting During Adolescence. in press. Coyne, S. M., Padilla-Walker, L. M., & Howard, E. (2013). Emerging in a Digital World: A Decade of Media Use, Effects, and Gratifications in Emerging Adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 1, 125 137. Davignon, P. (2013, December). The Effects of R-Rated Movies on Adolescent and Young Adult Religiosity: Media as Self-Socialization. Review of Religious Research, 55(4), 615 628. Dong, G. (2012). Impaired inhibitory control in internet addiction disorder : A functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 153 158. Facts and Figures. (2017, January 21). Retrieved January 21, 2017, from news.byu.edu: https://news.byu.edu/byu-numbers Idler, E. L., Musick, M. A., Ellison, C. G., George, L. K., Krause, N., Ory, M. G., & Williams, D. R. (2003). Measuring multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality for health 58

research conceptual background and findings from the 1998 General Social Survey. Research on Aging, 25(4), 327-365. Jackson, M. (2008). Distracted: The erosion of attention and the coming Dark Age. Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books. Langer, E. J. (1989). Mindfulness. Reading, Massachusetts: Merloyd Lawrence Book. Leahy, M. (2009). Porn University: What College Students Are Really Saying About Sex on Campus. Chicago: Northfield Publishing. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from Covenant Eyes: http://www.covenanteyes.com/pornstats/ Lin, F. (2012). Abnormal White Matter Integrity in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study. PloS One, 7(1). Mares, M., & Woodard, E. (2005). Positive effects of television on children's social interactions: a meta-analysis. Media Psychology, 7, 301 322. More Missionaries Will Use ipads, Digital Devices to Preach Gospel. (2014, July 9). Retrieved from LDS Church News: https://www.lds.org/church/news/more-missionaries-will-useipads-digital-devices-to-preach-gospel?lang=eng Moses 1:39. (n.d.). The Pearl of Great Price. Padilla-Walker, L. M., Coyne, S. M., Fraser, A. M., Dyer, W. J., & Yorgason, J. B. (2012, October). Parents and adolescents growing up in the digital age: Latent growth curve analysis of proactive media monitoring. Journal of Adolescence, 35(5), 1153 1165. Pargament, K., Feuille, M., & Burdzy, D. (2011). The Brief RCOPE: Current psychometric status of a short measure of religious coping. Religions, 2(1), 51 76. Slater, M. D. (2007). Reinforcing Spirals: The Mutual Influence of Media Selectivity and Media Effects and their Impact on Individual Behavior and Social Identity. Communication Theory, 17(3), 281 303. Smith, A. (2015). U.S. Smartphone Use in 2015. Washington D.C.: Pew Research Center. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (1995). The Family: A Proclamation to the World. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2004). True to the Faith. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (2015). The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens. San Francisco: Common Sense Media. Top, B. L., & Chadwick, B. (1993). The Power of the Word: Religion, Family, Friends, and Delinquent Behavior of LDS Youth. BYU Studies, 33(2), 305. Uhls, Y. T. (2014). Five days at outdoor education camp without screens improves preteen skills with nonverbal emotion cues. Computers in Human Behavior, 39, 387 392. Zhang, W., Johnson, T. J., Seltzer, T., & Bichard, S. L. (2010, February). The Revolution Will be Networked: The Influence of Social Networking Sites on Political Attitudes and Behavior. Social Science Computer Review, 28(1), 75 92. 59

APPENDIX Recruitment email 60

Survey 61

62