Identification of Theological-Moral Harms in Digital Lifestyle

The purpose of the present research is to identify theological-moral harms resulting from digital lifestyle. It is a qualitative study conducted by semi-structured interviews with a sample consisting of 10 university and seminary professors, counselors and judges in a family court, as well as 20 members of families suffering from digital lifestyle who had referred to a family court. The results showed that access to immoral information, not pursuing theological and moral issues related to children, lack of communication between parents and children, doubt in religious beliefs, and uncertainty in following religious rules lead to some harms such as identity crisis, decline of religious beliefs, social isolation, and weakness of religious, moral, and national values. Comparison between interview results with experts and families revealed that some new aspects of theological and moral harms as a result of digital life style are being created in families and their children which can be summarized as follows: theological-moral consequences from the view of experts: spreading fake and unreal content, teaching unethical concepts and giving inappropriate information, lack of attention to moral issues, new life style, changing the belief and mentality of teenagers, lack of a comprehensive cultural plans; moral and social harms from the view of families: identity crisis, decline of religious beliefs and norms, addiction to cyber space, and social isolation.