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In The Amish and the Telephone: Resistance and Reconstruction (1992), Diane Zimmerman Umble elaborated on reasons why the Amish have resisted the adoption of this communications technology. According to Umble, the Amish lived according to the concept captured in the German word Gelassenheit, "a word the Anabaptists used to convey the ideal which each member is to strive for. Roughly translated, Gelassenheit means submission-yielding to higher authority: God, the church, elders, parents, community or tradition. In practice, Gelassenheit demands obedience, humility, submission, thrift and simplicity" (p. 185). "Faith permeates every aspect of social practice and provides the context in which social relationships are managed" (p. 185).
It is in this context that telephone service, introduced to the Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania in 1879, was officially banned within the Amish community in 1909. "Contrary to the spirit of Gelassenheit", the telephone was seen as contributing to "individualism and pride" and was banned as something that conflicted with the harmonious and separatist traditions of the sect (p. 189). Umble went so far as to suggest that a church split in 1910, in which one-fifth of the membership was lost, was largely due to the ban on the installation and ownership of the telephone.
It is interesting to note that use was not, and is not, banned. Today "community phones" can be found in separate structures where several families can have access to this "necessary" communication tool without the disruption of social order. "Located at the end of lanes, beside barns, or in the garage of a non-Amish neighbor, these telephones have unlisted numbers, are used primarily for outgoing calls, and are shared by six or seven Amish families in a particular neighborhood" (p. 184). Separation from "the world" is maintained while limited connection is permitted.
Technological indeterminists would agree with the author's assessment that within the Amish community, communication technology and the "industries that promote them are not the sole agents of influence or control" (p. 192). In fact, in this case the technology is shaped by the user. Choices about which technologies to adopt and which to reject are made in light of the importance of community and separateness. According to Umble, "Community telephones remind the Amish communicator that his or her point of reference is within the community, not the outside world, even in the act of using the telephone" (p. 192).
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