What Do You Regret Is Gone From MD?

[JohnH]

MD began as a CM teen internet experiment. It was adventurous, hopeful, with impressive faith knowledge and heart.
They initiated, contributed, led. i registered as the early “phase” was aging-out, i’m happy to say i had a few months before life (and FB, etc.) called them away .. Valerie, i believe you were here.

Young conservative Mennonite youth wouldn't participate here for several reasons:

1, the less-conservative people are already tied up scrolling Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, Snap, etc. on their smartphones.

2, the more-conservative people wouldn't be comfortable using a discussion forum like MennoNet, and are even less comfortable now that liberal-progressive voices (from their point of view) are dominant here. (I occasionally get someone who sends me a private message thanking me expressing my viewpoints here, which I sometimes find surprising since the feedback I get from the liberal-progressive here is that my viewpoint is bad, not needed, too harsh, un-Christian, etc.)

3, the more-conservative groups are the ones that retain their young people, so the "filtering process" is effectively that participation of young people is never going to happen here. If a young person in my own congregation were participating here, I would probably advise them to withdraw.

4, the Mennonite youth who came here came from church affiliations which, generally speaking, are either no longer conservative / plain at all, or are some of the least conservative / plain out of the conservative / plain world. This is an ongoing problem with transitional Anabaptism - nothing stays the same or remains, and you've gotten to experience a bit of it yourself: you have a good thing for a while, but it doesn't last. (Hence why many seekers like myself end up seeking more stable, less transitional settings.)

They 1) mostly knew each other, or of each other, 2) were of common faith, and well-read, well-informed of their faith, 3) shared family desktop computers. Family desktops were great. In many ways. Accountability, also, hilarity.
i wish the world could go back to desktops. smartphones needlessly do a lot of damage.

(2) is an issue in that the participants of MennoNet are no longer of common faith anymore.

[Szdfan]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

[Anthony]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

I am in my 20s. This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

[JohnH]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

I am in my 20s. This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

That is correct, and this is basically why I am here along with some other people. The nice thing is that the political discussion is largely getting segregated into the Politics forum, so the rest of the forum is becoming a lot more usable, although there are periodic attempts to "break containment".

[Szdfan]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

I am in my 20s. This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

I think that a forum like this encourages longer discussion, but we live in an algorithm, meme-fueled world. I encounter this reality daily with my middle school students who hate reading and writing anything of length. A five paragraph essay is apparently cruel torture.

[Neto]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

I am in my 20s. This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

I think that a forum like this encourages longer discussion, but we live in an algorithm, meme-fueled world. I encounter this reality daily with my middle school students who hate reading and writing anything of length. A five paragraph essay is apparently cruel torture.

I have sometimes attempted to engage in a discussion on FaceBook, but it can be extremely difficult to even find the original post again, the comments are not only all mixed up, but are also filtered by the AI FB Gestapo. Then the original poster can also just delete the entire discussion if it goes in a direction that exposes their faulty thinking or understanding.

[It can be somewhat aggravating at times that the ability to edit a post on MN times out after a set time, but the first Mennonite forum I was on didn't have that constraint, and it became a problem when a person's post was commented on, then they went back and edited it, leaving the later comment sounding really strange. As I recall, the person who did this the most was a college professor, and someone finally asked her to not do that, which she did quickly accept. She wasn't trying to cover up her errors or poor choice of wording, rather it was just as if she was refining a document for publication, and was using the other participants as a review committee. So I do think that was a good choice to restrict later editing. I also participate on an old car forum where editing old comments is left open, but when I change something on an old post of mine I note it as an EDIT.]

[temporal1]

I am in my 20s.
This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

Hang in there!
i keep seeing reports of an uptick in young people’s interest in and attendance in churches, mostly Catholic, young men -
which would be expected, considering the size and visibility of the Catholic Church. Pope Leo, from Chicago, is presented with a magnetic appeal, i see a lot of that.

Interest in Christianity, no matter starting place, if it continues, if reading scriptures happens - it will lead to Anabaptists’ doorsteps.
i couldn’t be happier young men in their 20’s are returning to church.

Early Anabaptists were devout Catholics - seeking with questions. “All’s fair” they say.

This forum?
i have no idea about its future. It’s weathered storms. (More than squabbling.) Now another. A major loss.

Something i’ve noticed. Over years. And years.
Reviewing registration posts, nearly 100% arrive with questions and hopes about CMs/C Anabaptists.
i can’t recall one “first post” looking for politics. There’s got to be a message in there.

Considering this, i’m not sure how it happens so much of the VOLUME of posts are about politics.

i think it’s best that politics now has a sub forum. BUT. i’m afraid, being so, the tone may get more caustic? not sure.
ALSO, i’m most interested in CM views/response, i miss those in the subforum. They aren’t 100% absent.

The forum is what members make it.
For myself, there are some members i “never want to miss” what they share.

Look for the valuable. Choose wisely, according to what suits you, what helps you.

It can be a hodge-podge. There are edifying discussions. Begin topics of interest to you.

The young ones came up with an forum approach that has endured longer than MANY MANY internet “enterprises”.
i think part of it is the lack of flash.

This is a place centered on Jesus, appealing to readers+writers. [Not normal!] In the best way.

[Soloist]

I think the primary reason why there aren’t young Mennonites on this forum is because it’s a web forum and there has been a generational shift away from forums to other online platforms.

I am in my 20s. This is true but in my experience there is literally nowhere else to discuss anabaptism. I find it fitting that these discussions take place in a old style 2000s internet forum

I think that a forum like this encourages longer discussion, but we live in an algorithm, meme-fueled world. I encounter this reality daily with my middle school students who hate reading and writing anything of length. A five paragraph essay is apparently cruel torture.

Wife: Has it actually gotten worse over the years? I know at least a couple of the middle schoolers in our school would act the same way, and they have no Internet/phone to distract them.

[temporal1]

Wife: Has it actually gotten worse over the years? I know at least a couple of the middle schoolers in our school would act the same way, and they have no Internet/phone to distract them.

Good question. i wonder, too.
While i agree and respond much like Szd to frequent reports of problems with reading+writing (and math) .. also, cursive writing not being taught (altho, if i recall, it was a one semester course in elementary school - so, why not?!) -

My school experience was before the internet, calculators were coming along, but not allowed in class or for tests.

Still, i realized, esp as a young adult, when we moved, most people don’t lke to write. At all. By hand or type.

So, in ways, i’ve wondered if the internet might have increased reading? - If not quality, but, it is reading. Writing is questionable.
A lot of it is truncated, with slang, emojis, etc., is there a label for how young people communicate on smartphones?

i’m pretty sure most love of reading starts in homes, ‘way before formal school. i grieve for children who do not have this. Some read to their children before they’re born. How can this be replicated? Big questions.

My parents had little formal ed, my mother finished junior high, my father finished high school, at that time, a HS diploma served many very well for adult life. Both were avid readers! All their lives. They didn’t stop.

i read somewhere, reading was a big deal for early U.S. immigrants.
The Gutenberg Press had an impact, Bibles were treasures brought along, and used for communication when commnication was difficult and rare. Families and loved ones would read their Bibles “in sync” over distances, keeping in touch through Spirit. So touching.

Most would have a Bible if they had any book at all, many learned to read in their Bibles.
i think this can give insight about how+why the Bible became so meaningful in life and culture.

Who is better off?
Those confined to Bibles, or contemporary life, flooded with printed material - AND digital?!

[ohio jones]

Writing is questionable.

qft