Things are in the saddle and ride humankind! So maybe we should take some technology tips - no, not just anti - from the Amish
It was Wired magazine’s founding editor Kevin Kelly - not the world’s most notable Luddite - who first suggested that a tech-addicted age could take some lessons from the seemingly anti-progress American religion, The Amish. As this Neon article remembers:
Kelly spent time geeking out with ‘Amish hackers’ and peeking into workshops whose modern machines are powered by compressed air for his book What Technology Wants (2010). He concluded that: ‘In any discussion about the merits of avoiding the addictive grip of technology, the Amish stand out as offering an honourable alternative.’
The foundation of this ‘honourable alternative’ is to not adopt every single new technology, or use cars, phones and social media as soon as they become the norm. Instead, the Amish make slow and deliberate decisions as a collective. Rather than rushing optimistically or blindly into the future, they move forward cautiously, open but sceptical.
Alex Mayyasi’s brilliant essay interviews perplexed Amish on how phone-glommed pedestrians could allow themselves to miss out on “face-to-face communication”, also mentions the work of Kaiwei Tang and his “Light Phone”. It’s specifically designed to be minimal in its functionality (a Light Phone II is imminent, see below) - and fits well with the Amish aesthetic:
So if you want to “go light” with your tech, here’s the article’s top tips taken from the Amish:
For one thing, you might consider putting any new app or gadget through a trial period. Think about what you want out of the tool, try it out, discuss its influence with people you’re close to – and only then make a decision, adjusting your usage to meet your goals.
If following people at random on Instagram turns into an addictive distraction, or puts pressure on you to keep up with the Joneses, consider following just a few friends and family members. Using your laptop or smartphone mindlessly? Maybe lock your devices in a closet whenever you don’t need them, just to create that added barrier to pointless use.
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As you pick and choose, adapting technology to your needs, it might help to establish a set of guiding principles. For example, the Amish ethos places prime value on family and neighbourly life. It also strives to maintain a separation from the world, which informs their policy of not connecting to the electric grid, but rather powering appliances with batteries or other alternatives.
For Tang – who is now adding features to the Light Phone II in response to customers’ frustrations with the extremely minimal first version – the company’s core principles now include commitments to stay ad-free, and to ensure that every action has a clear ending. That means saying ‘yes’ to calling an Uber on a Light Phone, but ‘no’ to social media’s infinite feeds.
You might want to borrow the ‘no infinite feeds’ policy from Tang, as well as the relatively relaxed approach of the Amish toward technology at work but greater restrictiveness at home. (Amish can have email for work, but go to the post office regularly to mail personal letters.)
Above all, decide to be OK with seeming eccentric. The Amish’s unusual approach has allowed them to survive for centuries, even while other cooperatives and intentional communities fall by the wayside. Most Silicon Valley CEOs severely restrict their own children’s access to phones and screens.
Given that current research suggests that millions of people are carrying machines in their pockets that stress them out and make them unhappy, perhaps an approach that seems a little unusual is called for. Even if that means taking technology lessons from the Amish.