“I Was Told to Come Back and Share This”: Social Media-Based Near-Death Experience Disclosures as Expressions of Spiritual Beliefs

People who have had near-death experiences use TikTok to share their stories, often weaving in spiritual and religious themes to make sense of what happened. An analysis of 200 videos tagged with #nde found that most posts express personal meaning, and videos with spiritual content attract more comments and deeper discussions about faith. The findings suggest that social media platforms can help build community around shared spiritual experiences and offer lessons for designing online spaces that support personal expression and connection.

Study at a glance

Abstract

People who experienced near-death events often turn to personal expression as a way of processing trauma and articulating beliefs. While scholars have examined how individuals share near-death experiences (NDEs), limited research has explored how these narratives are communicated collaboratively on today’s social media platforms. We analyzed 200 randomly sampled TikTok videos tagged with #nde and related hashtags. Content analysis revealed that individuals often use NDE narratives to articulate personal meaning, with spiritual and religious themes appearing in the majority of posts and serving as a means of exploring and making sense of personal spiritual perspectives. Consistent with this, analyses of comment sections reveal that videos containing spiritual themes tend to attract more engagement and foster deeper conversations around faith and meaning. Our findings offer insights into how online platforms facilitate community-level engagement with spirituality, and suggest implications for design of spaces that support shared expression and connection in specialized communities.