Hutterites and Social Media

Hutterites have always been on top of any 'new' technologies that have shown up, but the last few years have seen such rapid advances that even the most liberal communities have voiced their concerns, regarding the easy access of Internet and cell phones. Most colonies give their male members a cell phone as soon as they are 15 or baptized  depending on the colony, but few have data plans or even texting plans on these phones. That, however, has not stopped those that don't have it.

For the most part these phones are one of life's best inventions, but as we all know there are those who abuse and misuse the privilege of having a phone, and even when it isn't a colony phone, nowadays they are so easy to get and data plans being even easier to get, you can even see children as young as 12 or 13 with a text phone and this is what is scary.

I don't think I need to go into the details of what goes on when these young children have a text phone and what is being texted. I sometimes wonder if their parents are actually aware of what they are doing, but then again I can't see that they don't know. Maybe they don't know the fine details, but somehow I can't see that they would not be aware that they have a texting phone or access to Internet and face book.

 But I wonder about what we are saying when we are so much a part of all this, what light to the world are we showing? I don’t mean the cell phone and the internet as much as I mean Facebook, there are colonies that have web pages that are very interesting, and this is not what I am talking about, I mean the social medias, not the web pages themselves. I am not really familiar with MySpace and a few others, but I would assume they are in the same line as Facebook, which seems to be the most popular social networking site.

There was one called “The Hutterite Social Network” and I was a part of it when it was still “alive” J but even that one, was mostly arguing about differences in faith and beliefs. So when it was finally over, I think most of us breathed a sigh of relief. I honestly don’t think that it was what the owner intended it for, which is why I think he shut it down. The constant bickering, mostly by ex-hutterites who were trying to justify their reasons for leaving, was a not-so-pleasant socializing, and I do know a few people that left HSN in disgust.  I know I didn’t enjoy those discussions, especially when they were full of bitterness and hurt, which may or may not have been justified, but when it got to downright slandering of old and respected ministers and elders I thought: that’s it. Never did delete my account, but it has been shut down and not a moment too soon.

Facebook: At first glance it seems harmless enough, great place to socialize and connect with far away friends, but under the surface there is so much more, and this is the scary part. I admit I have been a part of Facebook for about 8 years, but it's only been the last 2 that I have really gotten involved, or as I say finally figured out how it works. :-) When I first started up on Facebook I did it to be connected with our boys that had left, but even then the few times I went to the city and logged in, I couldn't see much sense in it, especially when profanity ruled their status updates. But then more and more people I knew signed up for Facebook, people I could actually related to, and to comment on their status seemed like the ideal thing.

Of course, there are the what I call the '2 minuters', those who have an update every 2 minutes, these of course are usually the young 15, 16 year olds. And I am not kidding, every 2 to 5 minutes there is an update, and they have others like themselves who comment on them! It would boggle the mind, but when you really think about it, that is what Facebook is about. And that is another issue, how much time is being wasted. Not to mention that Face book is a little egotistical, (come on, even I have to admit that when I put up a status update, the first things I do is check to see how many likes and comments I get on it) there is a saying that is quite funny, but only because it is true. "Facebook is like a fridge, you know there is nothing there, but still you keep checking every 5 minutes."
Anyways all this may seem harmless and just fun, but what do you do when this gets boring? There are so many groups and interests to check out, and this is where the scary part comes in. So many questionable things on there plus the fact that no matter how much Facebook may say it does not allow pornography and the like, it is there; and the really scary part about this is, at all times we are only  2 clicks away from finding it.

There are those who will say "you find what you're looking for".  This may be true, but in some cases there is just a matter of stumbling over it.  In my case all I did was follow a like on someone's page, which turned out to be a gay designer, (I had no idea of this until I was on the page) and the explicit pictures there shocked me to no end. And the first thing that went through my head was: "and children can access this!" I don't want to know what this does to their minds! The thing of it is, that no matter how good your internet filter is, it does not block individual pages of Facebook, you have to block Facebook totally.

I recently deleted my account, and a few friends asked me why, and when I explained my reasons to them, they all agreed with me. First of all I don't like what Facebook was doing to me, when you spend every spare minute on there, and sometimes even late at night, it becomes a question of who is controlling whom? So having those little nagging doubts about the 'rightness' of it all, (we all know the saying 'whatever keeps us from good is evil') it was when I told my niece that no way was I letting her sign up for Facebook, and her mother said to me that I have to be an example to them, that I really started to seriously think about deleting my account. And when I found out that there was more on there, I actually decided to go ahead and do it. I certainly don't want the responsibility of having them say, "Well you're on there, why can't I?" So I decided to leave it while I still could. In no way am I judging those who are still on Facebook, as I said, it was a really great way to keep in touch, seeing friends that live far away and seeing how their families grow, but for myself, after thinking long and hard about it, I felt it was the best decision I could make and do for myself. Really I don't need that extra responsibility, and I must say I actually feel as if a burden has lifted itself from my shoulders. I don't wonder that our elders and ministers are so against internet and Facebook in general, they see and hear what it does to people.

It is addictive, I know of one wife who deleted her husband's account, he was spending his spare time at home on his phone instead of helping with the children or spending time with them. She was quite upset, (and justifiable so!) To his credit, he admitted it was the best thing his wife did.

For those who have children on face book all I can say is, please parents, monitor your children's activities, a lot of them are friends with people whom they have no idea who they are! And here we are publicly saying what we are doing, and where we are, and that as we all know can be too much information. I don't need to go into the details of the child predators out there.  As we all know how curious children and adults are, I think we can say we find out things by being curious, and sometimes we may find more than what we bargained for.

I recently read an article about internet and filters, and the one thing it stressed is that no matter how good a filter you have there are ways of getting past it, and sometimes it can be as innocent as typing in what you may think is a harmless word. Someone told me her nephew was doing a project for school and did a google search for 'cougars' and it just so happened he was doing it with his mother. She was beyond shocked, and the thing of it is, they have what they consider a good filter. Guess it's a good thing mother was there to filter further.

I really don't know how to conclude this article, so I'll just leave it at this, for all the 'good' internet and social medias and cell phones have, there is so much more 'evil' out there, and really, I seriously think that is what it is all about. Evil being rampant. Your comments and thoughts are welcome, please feel free to comment, also if you are a part of social medias, what you do to monitor your children and stuff.