Disclaimer: This article refers only to the Amish community’s philosophy as it pertains to technology and is not a commentary on any aspects of their religious beliefs.
A couple of weeks ago, I was biking to class and I found myself thinking that I was moving too fast. I wanted to walk instead. Crazy, right? In what twisted world would I be upset about the ease of my personal transport? I’d never had that feeling before, but it intrigued me.
In the past, my rejection of technology has been limited to social media and smartphones. I had only a flip phone at my disposal throughout much of my childhood. When I finally did buy a smartphone, I was 17 and had already graduated from high school. Thus began a 5-year-long tug-of-war match with a device that I had brought into my own life. I felt like I had lost access to and control over my own time.
I’m sure that even those of you that were smartphone users at an earlier or later age can relate. Nearly everyone I know is just about sick to death of their phones. Not many people that I know are sick of their bicycles though.
To be clear, it’s not that I want to get rid of my bike. I love Gilbert. It’s more that I am feeling as though my time is slipping away too quickly, and my use of technology — in a very broad sense — is contributing to that feeling.
The faster our modes of transportation get, the more we are expected to do in a day. The more efficient technology makes any given task, the quicker we are expected to work. The more technology is able to help us, the less we work with others.
The sooner we invent something new, the faster the future will come. And the future is coming pretty darn fast.
I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I have seen articles about artificial intelligence in the news. Nor could I reasonably recall how many conversations about the topic I’ve had with everyone from professors to coworkers to strangers on the streets. In my view, new technology is being incorporated into our society far too quickly.
I’m not the first person to have this thought: the Amish beat me to it.
Contrary to popular belief, the Amish do not completely reject the use of technology, according to Amish America. While the practices of individual communities vary, it would be more accurate to say that the Amish consider the benefits and drawbacks of new technology before incorporating it into their lives. Instead of being immediately accessible to every member of the community, a new piece of technology — if it is not completely rejected — is phased in slowly. If technology is rejected though, it can be for myriad reasons, such as providing too much distraction, being too convenient or reducing the need for mutual reliance within the community.
Surprisingly, I can’t see much in this philosophy that I disagree with. I have definitely found that smartphones are too distracting and convenient, and that they promote antisocial behavior and division within my communities. Daily life has completely changed because of the smartphone, for better or worse.
Even other less controversial technology, like headphones, printers or kitchen appliances have significantly shaped our lives. Often, these changes are positive, but I would be hard-pressed to think of a technological invention whose implementation did not have some sort of negative consequence, be it social, environmental or political. Seems to me like the Amish have the right idea.
There’s something about doing things without technology that has always been intriguing to me. I don’t know anybody who has seen an Amish piece of furniture or consumed an Amish baked good and not marveled at the quality of the craftsmanship and found themselves at least somewhat envious of the Amish ability to produce these goods without the help of much modern technology. We seem to have respect and admiration for people who produce things through labor and hard work — whether that is simply because some of us no longer engage in manual labor or because many of us actually no longer know how to make certain things without the help of technology.
Technology is tempting and addicting precisely because it makes our lives easier. I can’t think of many situations where I would choose to suffer unnecessarily. Yet, when I have chosen the more difficult path, simply because I could, I have always been incredibly proud of my resulting work. That pride was in no small part due to the higher degree of effort required of me in the process.
If we lose all of our opportunity to work hard due to technological advancements like artificial intelligence, we lose our ability to feel this kind of personal pride as well. But, just as exercising can be miserable the first few times until we realize that it actually makes us feel better biologically, so too can rejecting technology be miserable at first — until it isn’t.
I propose that the revolution we are all talking about may actually already be here — in the form of Amish Intelligence (AI). You can see it in these teens (now college students) who rejected smartphones, or in the abundant TikTok content about knitting, sewing and baking. The culture of my peers is now permeated by a sense of nostalgia for the less functional, less efficient technology of the past. Generation Z thinks that flip phones are cool, is buying vinyl records and is opting for wired instead of wireless earbuds.
I am aware that there is more to understanding these changes, much of which involves trend cycles that have more to do with aesthetics than ideologies, but the fact remains that a solid portion of my generation is opting to reject newer technologies in favor of older ones. For me, that rejection comes in response to a world which I feel is outpacing my desired lifestyle, and a world which at times seems to be constantly shoving technological innovation down my throat.
I’m sick of buying in, I’m bored of technology and I want more than anything to smack the next person who mentions artificial intelligence upside the head. Yet I also understand that, as with so much in life, moderation is key. Technology is incredibly valuable, and it is a necessary part of life for many. Finding ways to improve it is certainly a worthy endeavor.
The key consideration is as follows: what benefits and what consequences does a piece of new technology actually bring to our communities and are those benefits and consequences something that we can — or should — do without?
Whether you join the Amish Intelligence revolution or not is up to you; the future is coming for us, regardless. In the meantime, I’ll be traveling the hills of Pennsylvania by horse and buggy.
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Fiona Sievert is an undergraduate at the University of Arizona double majoring in Anthropology and East Asian Studies with a minor in German Studies. She loves languages, wearing funky outfits, and (occasionally) being a dirtbag in the great outdoors!
