Substitution Effect of Virtual Communities for Religious Communities on Social Capital and Well-Being

Abstract

The rise of internet communities coincides with the decline of religious participation in the United States. This paper examines whether increased internet use displaces religious participation, and whether this substitution reduces social capital and well-being. Using General Social Survey data from 2000 to 2019, this study estimates the effects of internet use on religious participation, social capital, and subjective well-being using ordinary least squares and instrumental-variables models. Empirical results indicate that internet use is negatively associated with both church attendance and daily prayer, suggesting a shift in time allocation. Church attendance is positively associated with both happiness and financial satisfaction, while internet use has no significant effect on happiness but is negatively associated with financial satisfaction. The displacement effect is significantly stronger among adults aged 35 and older, while regional effects are uniformly insignificant. These findings suggest virtual communities displace religious time allocation without delivering the well-being benefits, indicating that online communities serves as partial but imperfect substitutes for in-person religious participation.