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  1. The New York Times CompanyASHLEY GILBERTSON, KEVIN GRANVILLE9/15/1717 min
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    The New York Times Company
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    • tylerbc6 years ago

      Man, I loved this. It's interesting to talk about the effects modern technology has on social interaction from the perspective of people who fundamentally eschew it. Also interesting to read about the one guy saying he was worried about the internet corrupting Amish youth, and taking them away from the church.

      • jeff6 years ago

        Yeah that was a good read. I feel like their concerns about the potential negative impact of technology on their social interactions are pretty reasonable. Making exceptions for using technology at work seems like a good compromise. I'm curious how these rules are enforced and at what age kids are allowed to decide if they want a phone and how they might choose to use it. I finally caved an got an iPhone this year but I still don't participate in any social networking. I definitely feel like there's something to be said for pushing back against an always-on/always-connected lifestyle.

        • bill
          Top reader of all time
          6 years ago

          @tylerbc - Thanks for sharing! I loved this too! This piece suggests a truly beautiful overlap in the Hipster/Amish Venn diagram. Some of these images, the man & his son, children playing, working the land - these are the real-world version of the seemingly-elusive fantasy that Portland aspires to create an inhabit. Beautiful photos, up and down.

          Agree strongly with jeff - "pushing back against an always-on/always-connected lifestyle" is literally the only way to live!! One of the most meaningful and significant decisions I've made in the last few years was to give up my smart phone and switch to a flip phone. There were huge ramifications, both personal & professional. But life without an iPhone is simply better than life with one. I'm still trying to forge further in that direction, planning to disconnect from other technologies, both hardware & software, and targeting those ones which are the most addicting and the least value-adding.

    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      6 years ago

      I can't believe the Amish community is still growing. That's surprising, insightful and awesome. Quotes that make me want to be Amish:

      “If you can just look it up on the internet, you’re not thinking,” said Levi, another woodworker. “The more people rely on technology, the more we want to sit behind a desk. But you can’t build a house sitting behind a desk.”

      “Philadelphia is very fast-paced,” he said. “Then I go home, and I can drive my horse. I enjoy horses. Some people don’t, but I do. It slows everything down.”

      “People are treating those phones like they are gods,” she said. “They’re bowing down to it at the table, bowing down to it when they’re walking. Here we say we don’t bow down to idols, and that’s getting dangerously close, I think.”