A television experiment was done where a group of British people left their modern lives and tried to live like Amish for one summer. It wasn’t the full Amish life because that would’ve entailed some religious and political stuff. But they got rid of the appurtenances of modern life, wore old-fashioned clothes and settled into farm and domestic work. A real Amish family from Ohio stayed with them to give advice. This interesting chart shows certain psychological metrics of the participants over time. A majority of the people who started the experiment left before the end. They couldn’t deal with it. I think fifteen left and nine stayed the course. So the chart really only measures the stayers.
A month after the experiment ended, the last nine people said the psychological improvements were still with them, but the chart clearly shows things starting to trend downwards. The thing that stuck with me was how, just before the end, the final group looked like normal people. A bit countrified but very normal looking. Then they all put on their modern gear for going home (hairstyles, make-up and synthetic attire) and they all looked like freaks.
