National Emergency Alert Test Outs Amish Men as Smartphone Owners, Gets Them Shunned

man holding phone

Photo: AllaSerebrina/Depositphotos

On October 4, FEMA emitted a national emergency alert test, causing every smartphone and device in the U.S. to go off—even those set on vibrate. While it was an awkward inconvenience or a bit of a jump-scare for some, for one group in particular, it meant trouble. According to reports by ex-Amish TikToker Eli Yoder, some Amish men were “shunned’ by the church after the alert revealed which of them owned a smartphone.

“Several Amish men got shunned by the Amish Church for having smartphones in their pocket when the emergency alert system went off,” Yoder shares. He says he has helped “quite a few Amish men” get a phone. “Now three of them replied back to me and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna have to lay low for a while, I just got shunned,’ and I said ‘How’d that happen?’ They said, ‘That emergency alert that went off? Yeah, we had our phones on vibrate and it still went off.’ ”

Yoder even told the story of a man whose phone went off just when the community elders were pulling over to his house to talk to him about something that might get him shunned. “Right when that was going on, the alert went off and [it] was in his pocket,” he recalls. “Now he is getting shunned for both whatever they were after to shun him and also the cellphone.”

While “shunning” doesn’t mean that the men were kicked out of their Amish community, they will be punished in an effort to maintain the integrity of the church. Those shunned can be cut off from community activities like eating or taking rides with others in the community, and it can certainly hurt their chances to earn a living. However, others can still talk to them and they can receive help if it’s absolutely necessary.

“From now on,” Yoder adds, “I guess I have to remember to give all my Amish buddies a heads up if there is a planned emergency alert test.”

According to reports by ex-Amish TikToker Eli Yoder, some Amish men were “shunned’ by the church after a national emergency alert went off and revealed which of them owned a smartphone.

An Amish horse and carriage drives by a benefit auction (Amish mud sale) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Photo: DelmasLehman/Depositphotos

“Several Amish men got shunned by the Amish Church for having smartphones in their pocket when the emergency alert system went off.”

Hand holding IphoneX

Photo: leungchopan/Depositphotos

While “shunning” doesn’t mean that the men were kicked out of their Amish community, they will be punished in an effort to maintain the integrity of the church.

An Amish farmer plows his fields using a traditional horse-drawn plow instead of a tractor in rural Pennsylvania's Amish country.

Photo: woodkern/Depositphotos

Watch Yoder’s video explaining what happened:

@yodertoter40Several Amish men get shunned by the Amish church when the emergency alert system went off. Lol.♬ original sound – Eli Yoder

h/t: [Hypebeast]

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