STEVICK, RICHARD A. Growing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years. 2nd edition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Pp. ix-371. $24.95 (U.S)
According to Richard A. Stevick, rapidly-growing technology use among Amish young people compelled him to write and publish a revision to the first edition only seven years later. While the first edition focuses on Amish schooling, adolescent years, work, independence from home, courtship, and, ultimately, keeping the faith, the second edition adds a final chapter titled “The Future: Keeping Faith in a World of Change.” Those who consider themselves more modern Anabaptists will find themselves at home since they share the concern of holding on to faith while adapting to their changing worlds.
Stevick is well-qualified to add his voice to what we know about Amish communities. He has worked over 25 years teaching and researching Amish community members, particularly adolescents. He is a keen observer of cultures and has a deep understanding of the culture from within.
In the second edition, Stevick continues the assertion that Amish young people are living with many, if not most, of the same communal rules as did their parents and their grandparents. The world that they explore in their adolescent years, however, is much different than in times past. This difference is due primarily to the arrival of the Internet and social media. According to Stevick, thousands of Amish young people are apt users of Facebook, for example. Their expertise and social adherence to social media do not melt away after church membership as might their more traditional rumspringa experiences. In many communities, church leadership engage in careful discussions about how to guide their young people through the shoals of social media waters.
In addition, Stevick changed a few of the first edition chapter titles. More often, however, he changed heading titles within the chapters. In some cases, what were headings for complete sections are now sub-headings under section headings. The more difficult task of revising for this edition came about while attempting to collect data about Amish young people’s use of social media. First, Stevick needed to become a user of social media himself. As a user, then, he was able, after some time, to “friend” a young man on Facebook. This led to many more Facebook friends who are Amish, providing Stevick with rich data about social media habits among Amish young people. In addition, Stevick conducted interviews and spent hours in conversation with many Amish friends. He was invited to many social occasions which were fruitful spaces for observing Amish young people together, often making use of social media at the same time.
Thus, the strength of this new edition is, not surprisingly, his focus on including an “electronic rumspringa” (194). The technology of choice appears to be the cell phone or smartphone to access Facebook and other services that the Internet provides. Stevick mentions algebra lessons, chess, Scrabble, and sports (288) that give the current Amish young people an advantage over earlier generations. Often rumspringa activities take place out of sight of the elders; however, according to Stevick, using the Internet in front of one’s elders often takes place, even among the family around the dinner table. Here Stevick brings to bear his years of careful observation of and writing about this group to the use of social media among Amish young men.
While Stevick does mention Amish young women a few times, a weakness of the book is the nearly singular focus on the Amish male adolescent. I see little to no reference to Amish young women’s use of the smartphone. It seems highly unlikely that only a few women are using it. The chapter epigrams also are focused primarily on men’s accounts of an adolescent’s life—an adolescent male life.
Readers may want to see more of the social media research included in the context of larger practices. For example, the 28-page courtship chapter, “Courtship: Looking for Love,” does not include how social media might be impinging upon dating practices. Has cell phone usage changed the way dating is done? In other words, do the young men still rely on friends to make initial contacts for a date? Or do they use their smartphones to contact either a friend to set up a date with a young woman? Or do they use their smartphones to contact the young woman directly? Do they “friend” their girlfriends? If so, how does this break down, if it does, the secrecy around courtship alliances? Are any of the more troubling uses of cell phones among American adolescents in general at all evidenced among Amish youth?
In his “Preface,” Stevick acknowledges that “[t]o date, no formal studies have been conducted on the impact of the Internet on Amish youth” (p. xiv). Ultimately, however, Stevick has contributed a generously useful beginning to explorations of Amish young people and their social media usage. His observation of this serves as a call to future researchers compelled to participate in Amish studies. Scholars and lay persons alike will find this book adhering to sound methodological practice and engaging to read on topics that are of high interest to American Christians across the theological spectrum.