Manifesting
New Thought Takes on New Life Among Adolescents in the Covid-Era United States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4956989 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kristen M Balzer (0009-0005-9812-5710, Northwestern University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 9 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religion Compass (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1749-8171 • E-ISSN: 1749-8171 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/rec3.70029 |
| OpenAlex | W4414481393 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
Manifesting," a metaphysical spiritual practice that claims that one's mind has the power to attract anything upon which it is focused, came roaring onto the social media scene in 2020, just a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Google searches for the term shot up by 600% and by mid-2024, videos related to manifestation had amassed over 62.8 billion views on TikTok. Yet, this practice has a long history dating back to the American New Thought movement of the late 19th century. Using scholarship on adolescent spiritual worldview formation and online data gathered from manifesting "influencers," this article contends that today's manifesting trend is a continuation of the Moralistic Therapeutic Deism that was already characteristic of contemporary adolescent spirituality, particularly its consumerism, individualism, and "spiritual but not religious" disaffection with institutional religious affiliation. Furthermore, manifesting's rise in popularity is linked to ways the COVID-19 pandemic compounded both the typical adolescent desire for increased agency and the role social media is playing in youth worldview development. After analyzing rituals of manifestation and how they reflect and re-create broader trends of "unbundling" and "remixing" religious beliefs and practices, the article closes with a discussion of the political implications of manifestation. Ultimately, I argue that manifesting has taken on new life through social media amidst current political, social, and cultural upheavals because of how it offers an increased sense of agency for its practitioners and the ease with which it can be syncretized with existing spiritual postures
Metaphysics · Politics · Popularity · Scholarship · Sense of agency · Social media · COVID-19 and Mental Health · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Youth Education and Societal Dynamics
A religious history of the American people
Blessed
Oprah
Smartphones, social media use and youth mental health
The bright and dark sides of social media use during Covid-19 lockdown
New Thought’s Prosperity Theology and Its Influence on American Ideas of Success
Consuming Religion
Religious Socialization in a Media Age
Soul Searching
Manifest your desires
The Gospel of Creativity
Ritual
| Highly cited | No |
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