In Amish culture, it seems that people don't jump on the latest tech trend. But they also don't hate technology.

Because people check if new technology will work with the values that feel important for them, like family cohesion, calmness or humility. So, they wait, reflect and see if a new technology or tool will l do more harm than good.

For example, having a phone in every home might make people less likely to visit their relatives and therefore make family cohesion, an important value in that culture, harder. Because instead of visiting and spending together, you could just call instead. But having a phone for the whole village? That's useful for emergencies.

Let's be honest, this is something that I find very interesting but that is tough for me. Because I'm an enthusiastic kid when it comes to new gadgets and technology. I love playing with new tools. Still I can appreciate how a community comes together to decide if a new technology makes sense for them.

We could learn from this, even if we're all geeky and excited about new tech. We could do the same for the organizations we serve. The criteria will be different for each group, but the principle remains.

Action Question

What criteria should you consider in your organization before adopting new technology? Think beyond money—consider human and environmental impacts too. (1)

Footnote

(1) The irony of me using AI tools that are very new and fancy is something that is very visible to me. I'm still working on that ambivalence.

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

• Drafted with AI help: This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.