Amish Email.....

By Kevin Williams

I once emailed back and forth with the Amish owner of a bulk food store.  And I found myself wondering how in the heck he had email when he didn't have access to the internet, or at least that is what he told me.   Some Amish draw clear distinctions between what they'll use at home vs. for business.  You need tools to stay competitive in the business world and the market has come up with various devices: remote access voice-mails, etc to help the Amish stay connected without going too far.

Turns out there is a way for an Amish person to send and receive email without internet access.  I found out later that the bulk food store owner was using "Mail Bug" and since then I've become aware of other Amish that use it.  You do have to have access to a phone line, but more and more Amish have that also.

It's funny because the "MailBug" device looks like one of those old hybrid typewriter-computer word processors that were popular in the 1980s and early 1990s.   But the similarities end in looks.

While MailBug doesn't mark itself as "Amish email", it does fill that void.  It's also good, apparently, for seniors and others who just haven't latched on to all of the latest technological trends.   The MailBug website is interesting, if you want to read more about it.