Amish men who secretly owned cellphones were reportedly outed by Wednesday’s national Emergency Alert System test, causing them to be shunned by their peers.
A formerly Amish man took to TikTok to reveal that the loud noise sounding the alert test reportedly exposed concealed cellphones of three supposed members of the religious community unwilling to abandon modern devices, according to DailyMail.
@yodertoter40Several Amish men get shunned by the Amish church when the emergency alert system went off. Lol. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣♬ original sound – Eli Yoder
“Guess what, I just got a couple of my Amish buddies shunned today by the Amish Church,” Eli Yoder, an ex-Amish man, said. “Over the years there’s been quite a few Amish men who reached out and wanted phones, so whenever they request to have a phone, I’ll do everything I can to try to get them a phone.”
The Emergency Alert System test sounded off at 2:18 p.m. Wednesday, initiating an alarm noise from all radios, televisions and cellphones, according to the outlet. Traditional Amish beliefs condemn use of modern technology in favor of a simple lifestyle characterized by plain, old-fashioned clothes. (RELATED: Zoo Requests Visitors Stop Showing Gorillas Videos From Their Smartphones)
“One guy said the elders were coming in his driveway and they were there to speak with him about something they heard about him, and that he might have to get shunned,” Yoder said. “Right when that was going on, the alert went off and it was right in his pocket. Now he’s getting shunned for both. Whatever they were about to shun him for and also the cellphone.”
Prisoners who illegally snuck devices behind bars were similarly exposed by the emergency alert, TMZ reported. Cellmates with cellphones in Florida and New York reportedly had their devices confiscated by prison guards following their outing by the noisy alarm.