Ultra-Orthodox Jews to Hold Big Meeting on Internet Risks

1) Time waster: Ultra-Orthodox Jew's believe that it's Gods will to study Torah for as much time as possible. --Internet usage very easily turns into a a huge time waster. How many times have you found yourselves hours later in the same spot reading a blog or youtube video which you had no intention to see when you sat down at the computer? "Just one more link...", "Just one more video..". 2) Smut: Ultra-Orthodox Jew's aspire to purity of thought and vision. --Fact- The Internet is FULL of easy to access smut from the privacy and anonymity of your home. 3) Womens attire: Have you ever seen how Ultra-orthodox women dress? That's right, they cover their hair with a hat or wig, wear long skirts, stockings and long sleeves even in the summer. Ultra-orthodox Jews believe it's inappropriate to gaze at women especially if they are not dressed according to their standards. --News flash- women of the world don't dress like that. The internet is full of pictures, and unsurprisingly, the women in them are not blurred out. 4) Values: Ultra-orthodox are very insular. They stubbornly attempt to maintain their traditional values and educate their children with those values, many of which are not in tandem with the values of society at large. --The internet is place where ideas and values are freely expressed. While generally thought of as a good thing- Ultra-Orthodox Jews see this as a risk since it is a place where they cannot control the education given to their children.

Of those points I think only point 4 could be the basis for a strong counter-argument. An alternative solution would be to expose their children to all freedoms of expression the internet has to offer and to explain why they feel their own point-of-view is correct. But to do that they will still need to figure out how to address points 1-3.

As the article stated the idea is to make people aware of the risks that unrestricted access to the Internet poses both to adults and to children. And to give them tools and ideas how to live with (or without) the internet in a effective and safe way. Internet addiction is a real thing as are the risks to children (not just Ultra-Orthodox Jew's children.) The purpose here is not to limit internet usage in the world or to impose a national censor but to protect their own community from the risks they see as evident.

The Amish not only heavily restrict their member's Internet access, but commonly eschew the Internet altogether.

According to the 2010 census, there were 249000 Amish in the USA [1] and their population is doubling at the rate of about every 14 years. If you suppose that they will maintain that birth rate (which it seems likely to me that they will because they maintained about that birth throughout the past 100+ years of societal and technological development), and you simply extrapolate that out (which has its own merits and demerits, I know), you get about 1.6 billion Amish by the end of the century [2]. Regardless of whether or not the Amish grow to be just that large of a group, it seems to me that they will substantial demographic in the USA during the latter half of the 21st Century.

What will a voting block that big in the USA do with things like Internet regulation? How soon until Google Translate supports Pennsylvania Deutsch as a language option? When will we see HN discussing startups targeting the Amish market?

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish

[2]Year Amish Population

2010 249000

2024 498000

2038 996000

2052 1992000

2066 3984000

2080 7968000

2094 15936000

Edit: Updated for formatting

Given that they haven't even managed to will themselves into basic decency towards their own women I have my doubts here.