Whenever they come up, I find the Amish highly faszinating, and looking at the comments here, I don't seem to be alone in this. They look as if they found their perfect life style and are happy with that. If they are, I can congratulate them and wish them all the best moving forward.
However, after some thinking, I come to the conlusion, that either all the reporting is one sided positive about it or at least, the price they pay for what they achieved is a bit underreported. And I don't mean like missing out on Netflix, though a lot of people would already consider this a price that they would have to pay. I think of it more on a personal level with respect to social structures and freedom. Both human history and personal experience tells me that their communities work - if they work as frictionless as it might appear - only with a very rigid set of rules. Which of course impact the personal freedom significantly. We don't know how much social pressure is needed to uphold the structure, how much social force even.
This is by no means meant as a criticism of the Amish - without talking personally to them I would't dare to critize them from far away[1] - but rather of the reporting which seems to paint things in a more idyllic way than reality might be.
On a technical level, it certainly helps that Pennsylvenia seems to be a great place for their life style and one key element to their stabilty might be, that members who want to live differently can litterally walk away as "the rest of the US" is just a few miles away. Which also should be considered when looking at them as a possible "role model" for all: they do gain a lot of benefits from living near people who fully embrace the high tech life style, e.g. when needing medical help. Again, not a critique, just as a point of consideration.
But in one sense they should serve the rest of us as a rule model: they show that every one can and should decide for themselves how to live in this modern world. One might not shun technology completely, but even if it means using the smartphone and the internet more responsibly, that could help people a lot. We need to be a bit more concious in our decisions, however they end out to be.
[1]: fun fact, if I ever make it to Pennsylvania, I might well be able to talk to them. As far as I have learned, Pennsylvania Dutch is basically the regional German dialect "Pfälzisch". Which is basically the region me and my family comes from. So while I don't speak it normally, I can perfectly well unterstand it, and would quickly be fluent in it :)
However, after some thinking, I come to the conlusion, that either all the reporting is one sided positive about it or at least, the price they pay for what they achieved is a bit underreported. And I don't mean like missing out on Netflix, though a lot of people would already consider this a price that they would have to pay. I think of it more on a personal level with respect to social structures and freedom. Both human history and personal experience tells me that their communities work - if they work as frictionless as it might appear - only with a very rigid set of rules. Which of course impact the personal freedom significantly. We don't know how much social pressure is needed to uphold the structure, how much social force even.
This is by no means meant as a criticism of the Amish - without talking personally to them I would't dare to critize them from far away[1] - but rather of the reporting which seems to paint things in a more idyllic way than reality might be.
On a technical level, it certainly helps that Pennsylvenia seems to be a great place for their life style and one key element to their stabilty might be, that members who want to live differently can litterally walk away as "the rest of the US" is just a few miles away. Which also should be considered when looking at them as a possible "role model" for all: they do gain a lot of benefits from living near people who fully embrace the high tech life style, e.g. when needing medical help. Again, not a critique, just as a point of consideration.
But in one sense they should serve the rest of us as a rule model: they show that every one can and should decide for themselves how to live in this modern world. One might not shun technology completely, but even if it means using the smartphone and the internet more responsibly, that could help people a lot. We need to be a bit more concious in our decisions, however they end out to be.
[1]: fun fact, if I ever make it to Pennsylvania, I might well be able to talk to them. As far as I have learned, Pennsylvania Dutch is basically the regional German dialect "Pfälzisch". Which is basically the region me and my family comes from. So while I don't speak it normally, I can perfectly well unterstand it, and would quickly be fluent in it :)