This article explores the integration of the mobile phone into the religious experience of Christians in Nigeria. Based on the results of an online survey and the author’s observation, it argues that the mobile phone has become an actant in the mediatization of religion, creating dependency among some users and transforming religious praxis in palpable ways. Unsurprisingly, perspectives vary on whether and how the phone should be used during worship. Attitudes coalesce around three viewpoints, leading to the emergence of user groups labelled critics, advocates, and dualists. The accounts of study participants give access into the ways some people seek to (re)configure their engagement with religion by inserting the mobile phone as a multifunctional techno-spiritual gadget.
Religion in Nigeria is predominantly manifested in three identifiable forms: Christianity, Islam and African Traditional Religion. All three forms, but especially the first two, have in recent years embraced the “media logic,” packaging religious experience in ways that appeal to the media. These religions have adopted the media as platforms for worship, proselytization, image-building and investment. Thus, religion in Nigeria has come under the grip of mediatization, giving rise to a mediatized spiritual experience. This paper contends that the strong infusion of the media into religious life in Nigeria could have both positive and negative implications for society. It advocates a responsible use of the media to curtail the purveyance of hate, incendiary and predatory messages.
As the 21st Century continues to engender amazing innovations in the communication space, the influence of the media is becoming more pervasive. Thus, the media can no longer be studied separately from society; rather they must be seen as an integral part of the social structure upon which modern societies rest. Mediatization, as a theory, explains the manner in which social institutions are affected by, and seek to adapt to, the media. This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarly discussion of mediatization as a concept. It discusses its applicability within the Nigerian context and considers its implications for society. Using a mix of literature review and comments based on the authors’ observation, it discusses and interrogates the mediatization of the contemporary Nigerian society.
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