When God becomes reel content instead of devotion

There was a time when faith was mostly private. It lived in kitchens where incense curled upward before the first cup of chai. It lived in temples where bells rang not for performance but for presence. It lived in small, repetitive gestures, folded hands, whispered names, and a lamp lit before sleep. None of it was meant to be watched. Today, much of that same faith is filmed. Aarti happens with one hand holding the diya and the other holding a phone. Temple visits pause so a camera can capture the right angle. Even grief, gratitude, and prayer are increasingly edited into fifteen-second reels. God has not disappeared from modern life. But devotion has quietly become content. Scroll down to read more. Faith as performance Social media rewards what is visible, not what is sincere. It measures attention, not intention. When someone records themselves praying, they are no longer only praying. They are also watching themselves pray. One part of the mind stays in the ritual. Another part frames the shot, checks the lighting, and imagines the caption. That split changes everything. Faith, which once flowed inward, now turns outward. The sacred moment is no longer complete unless it is shared. From prayer to proof In older spiritual traditions, belief did not need evidence. It needed discipline. You prayed because you believed, not because you had something to show. Now the logic has reversed. If your prayer worked, people want proof. If your fast mattered, they want a post. The invisible is no longer trusted. If it did not happen on camera, did it even happen? Algorithms over aarti Platforms do not reward calm or patience. They reward drama, emotion, and spectacle. So spiritual content adapts. Quiet gratitude does not perform as well as emotional breakdowns. Steady discipline does not perform as well as miracle stories.God becomes a storyline. Suffering becomes a hook. Healing becomes a reveal. Faith turns into a before-and-after montage. Devotion that doesn’t go viral Real spirituality is not cinematic. It is repetitive. It is often routine-like. It shows up on days when nothing feels magical. It survives unanswered prayers and long silences. But reels do not have space for that kind of faith. They need peaks. They need tears. They need dramatic change. So what gets shown is not devotion as it is lived, but devotion as it can be sold. Why validation feels spiritual When likes arrive after a prayer reel, the brain links faith with approval. The post did well, so the prayer must have been powerful. When engagement drops, doubt follows. Was God not listening? Was something wrong with the intention? Faith, which once rested inside, begins to depend on an audience. God as branding For many people, spirituality is no longer just belief. It is an identity online. Being “spiritual” becomes part of a personal brand: what music you use, what quotes you post, what rituals you show. God becomes aesthetic. Belief becomes performance. What gets lost in translation The deepest part of faith is silence, the place where no one is watching. That is where honesty lives. But cameras cannot enter that space. So slowly, the inner work is replaced by outer display. People begin to pray for the reel instead of for themselves. The loneliness behind the reels Public devotion looks powerful, but it often hides a private emptiness. When spirituality is built for an audience, it stops being a refuge. It becomes pressure. You have to keep performing belief even when you feel tired, confused, or unsure. Remembering why people prayed in the first place Faith was never meant to be entertainment. It was meant to be a relationship. A place to rest. A way to stay grounded when life feels unstable. God does not need to be recorded to be present. And devotion does not become real because it was seen. It becomes real because it was felt, quietly, sincerely, without witnesses.