Sacred yet connected? How contemporary pilgrims construct digital authenticity on the Camino de Santiago

Abstract

The proliferation of smartphones and social media has intensified debates about authenticity in contemporary pilgrimage, with critics arguing that digital connectivity undermines the spiritual depth of sacred journeys. This article explores how pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago negotiate this tension, asking whether digital mediation necessarily diminishes authentic experience. Through ethnographic fieldwork in Santiago de Compostela, semi-structured interviews with 20 pilgrims, and digital ethnography of online forums and social media platforms, the study identifies four interconnected ‘digital authentication strategies’: temporal regulations (when to connect/disconnect), spatial restrictions (where technology is appropriate), social negotiations (group norms), and narrative curation (selective digital storytelling). Rather than abandoning technology or experiencing diminished authenticity, pilgrims develop reflexive practices that integrate physical and digital dimensions while maintaining subjective experiences of spiritual legitimacy. These findings challenge classical anthropological models positioning pilgrimage as total separation from everyday life. Instead, contemporary pilgrims inhabit ‘connected liminality’—a digitally mediated liminal state where transformation occurs amid continuous connectivity, and where authenticity emerges through attentional discipline rather than technological absence. Digital mediation thus operates not as contamination but as transformation, creating hybrid ritual forms that reflect broader shifts in late modern religiosity