Walking in My Shoes: An Autoethnography of Techno-Spiritual Practices
Xiaran Song, Anqi Wang, Andrés Lucero
International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems April 25, 2025 DOI: 10.1145/3706598.3713557 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Autoethnographic study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 1 |
| Population | The first author, a Christian community member engaging in private prayer |
| Interventions | Muse 2 electroencephalogram headband Religious iconography |
| Duration | 8-month |
| Key findings | The study provides empirical insights into how technological and non-technological media shape Christian prayer experiences, identifying emerging practices and limitations of integrating technology during prayer, and contributing to Techno-Spirituality discourse in HCI. |
Abstract
Technology has become deeply woven into the practices of faith communities who engage in shared prayer, online worship, or meditation. Despite a growing body of research on religious/spiritual practices, the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community has yet to fully investigate Techno-Spirituality, especially through a first-person approach. We explored prayer experiences to understand which elements evoke such experiences from a Christian perspective. We present results from an eight-month autoethnographic study of private prayer by the first author, also a community member, while incorporating both technological (e.g., a Muse 2 electroencephalogram headband) and non-technological (e.g., religious iconography) media. We reflect on emerging practices and limitations of integrating technology during Christian prayer. This paper provides empirical insights on spiritual practices with technologies, and contributes to discourses on Techno-Spirituality in HCI.