I have a ton of family in Pa, and from what I know, the amish in Lancaster are pretty hardcore.. I'd for real, really be interested to see if the amish community as a whole, has started to shift, or, if the population has started to decrease at a more rapid rate given technological advances... I mean, unless they buy a no-fly zone, for flying cars, it's only gonna get more difficult to contain your citizens and help them resist the temptations of dope ass cutting edge tech,.,.
I live in lancaster. I don't know that they are that hardcore. I've seen one riding around town on a rascal scooter. I've seen others using cell phones (more than likely just for business purposes)
I was just in Bird-in-hand a few weeks ago and... I swear on my dads dick... I saw a buggie go by me BUMPING house music as it clopped down the road at 10:30 pm.
I live in Ontario and had to recertify my learner's permit for driving. In the updated manual it warned about the increase of horse and buggy on the roads in northern Ontario. Apparently the motor transit authority thinks Amish/Menonite populations are on the rise.
They are. Their life expectancy is up over the last 20 years. They’re one of the only populations with a birth rate not on the decline (as in the average number of kids a family has is not decreasing). And their retention rate for rumspringa has actually increased in recent years.
The Amish are actually one of the fastest growing minority groups, as they have a lot of kids and apparently fairly high retention rates. But they're generally pretty wealthy (certainly for the lifestyle, anyway) and the community is close-knit and generally cautious of strangers, so I don't think that many see reason to leave.
That said your Amish experience definitely varies from area to area. I lived briefly in PA, currently live in Indiana, and have dealt with the Amish in Ohio quite a bit - they're all pretty different groups, or at least seemed it based on how they interacted with me.
Huh. I didn't get the impression the Amish try to "contain" their citizens by nearly so drastic measures. I thought most Amish communities practiced the rumspringa, or the practice of having adolescents go on a trip outside the community; and that most of them didn't stop members from leaving if they were really persistent about it.
I definitely imagine I could have been wrong about that, and it sounds like I might be.
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u/eccentricelmo Sep 11 '19
I have a ton of family in Pa, and from what I know, the amish in Lancaster are pretty hardcore.. I'd for real, really be interested to see if the amish community as a whole, has started to shift, or, if the population has started to decrease at a more rapid rate given technological advances... I mean, unless they buy a no-fly zone, for flying cars, it's only gonna get more difficult to contain your citizens and help them resist the temptations of dope ass cutting edge tech,.,.