People in big cities prefer to live alone or in small family units instead of large family groups. Do you think this is positive or negative trend?

A tendency among city dwellers to live alone or in small units instead of extended families is rising steadily these days. Some people are of the opinion that this trend is problematic. However, I would contend that this new lifestyle, in a way, offers many benefits to modern citizens for several reasons.

To begin with, a major advantage of elementary family is that it puts less pressure on individuals. Admittedly, fewer family members means less household expenditure while in extended families, breadwinners are usually overwhelmed and stressed as they have to take care of a number of non-working members. In other words, financial burden is the main problem of complex families which are quite common in rural areas. Perhaps this is the reason why living standards in big cities are generally higher than that of countryside. Besides, this lifestyle also gives parents more time to raise their children better. For instance, parents can talk to their kids about studying and help them overcome difficulties they may encounter at school.

Additionally, living alone is believed to give one a sense of freedom. It is true that young adults are often under parents’ supervision and cannot make a decision on their own, causing misunderstandings between the two generations. More specifically, people may find themselves at crossroads whether to follow family’s tradition or make a change when it comes to career orientation. Furthermore, this emergent trend is also a good way to avoid friction among family members which are becoming more popular at present. The fact that teenagers prefer eating fast food and listening to uptempo songs while older people appreciate traditional values could be taken as an example of this.

To sum up, I firmly hold the view that living alone or in small family units are advantageous and will be prevalent, at least in the foreseeable future because of those aforementioned arguments.