I grew up with television, cell phones, gaming systems, cars, electronic toys, and the internet. Even now as I write this post, I am using my laptop to produce text with which I can post to the internet so that it can be seen by an unknowable amount of people. For my research, I turn to books and online web resources to gather the information that I need for understanding. The clothes that I am wearing were manufactured in different countries. I am living in the “modern world”. But who is to say that this is the only proper world in which to live? Without understanding different cultures and lifestyles, it would be impossible to imagine that another “world” can exist. Therefore, by exploring a different culture, my eyes will widen beyond the world from which I have been raised, to appreciate the many different styles that people have adopted to live their lives.

For this blog, I plan to explore Amish culture. This is a world very different from my own, devoid of all of the technology that I depend on in my everyday life. Why do the Amish isolate themselves from modern day society? What do they believe in? How are teens raised in Amish culture? These are only a few of the questions that I will explore in my quest for understanding their world. I want to know why their culture makes sense to them and their reasons for isolating themselves. If I can understand this, then I can understand why people feel the need to live apart from modern day society.