Do you have a better chance of being happy if you live in a rural area? This is from a column in the New York Times today:
"Last year, the Census Bureau found that while roughly 80 percent of us live in urban areas, rural life was the most wished for. If happiness is what they seek, those folks are onto something. A 2018 study by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported that in spite of economic and health concerns, most rural Americans are pretty dang happy and hopeful. Forty percent of rural adults said their lives came out better than they expected. A majority said they were better off financially than their parents at the same age and thought their kids would likewise ascend. As for cultural woes, those among them under age 50, as well as people of color, showed notably higher acknowledgment of discrimination and commitment to social progress. All in all, it was a picture not of a dying place but one that is progressing."
I agree that living in a rural environment has many benefits. For me, being closer to nature would have to rate among the most important of those benefits. However, depending on your level of education and/or intelligence, I also think that many rural areas of the U.S. can be detrimental. I think this is especially true in the rural south. From experience, I can say that being college educated can ostracize you and make life very lonely. Most of my family, on both sides, live in rural areas. And, not only is college a rarity in my family, but it is actively discouraged and made fun of.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm saying that I think those with higher education might be better off just outside a bigger city. At least that way they could go into the city to find, or work with, like minded people.
Really depends on the specific rural area in question. There are spots along the road in rural Tennessee, the Highway 100 corridor for instance, that are alternately splendid and horrifying. "The idiocy of rural life" (Marx) prevails in some of those places, cut off from all vestiges of culture and civilization, stubbornly insulated in their ignorance and bigotry. In others, life is good. Some would be great to retire to, others would be death-in-life to a thoughtful person. Bottom line: it's less where you are than who and how you are, that makes your happiness.
ReplyDeleteBut on the other hand, see "The Geography of Bliss"...
DeleteI would imagine that the choice between rural and urban living depends greatly on where you are in your life and what you want out of life. I couldn’t wait to get out of Shelbyville when I was young, but many couldn’t imagine ever leaving. (They’re still here, happy I suppose.) The cities I lived in were energizing, especially Washington and Miami. Urban areas offer so much for those seeking to get more out of life. The young me could never get what I wanted in Shelbyville. But the older me is not looking for the same things. Small town life doesn’t have the opportunities of city life, but it has a lot less of what is aggravating about city life and provides (I believe) a greater sense of community. So it is easy to understand why rural life is much wished for by certain demographics.
DeleteRural communities are nice, I can see how they might live "happier lives". Yet, I feel that if you live in such communities, you are cut off from the world and it's realities. Although with technology, you still can get the information, I view that as only seeing the world through a box. You don't get to be involved in the life that urban areas have that I view as being closer to the reality of the world today. You also do not get to venture out and meet others of different cultures, thus not being able to further your knowledge and understanding of the world.
ReplyDeleteMy mom recently moved into a more rural area and our lives have become quite peaceful. Simply because we aren't really social and interactive with our neighbors. Everyone is more reserved including the kids in the neighborhood. However, when we lived in the urban side of town, everyone knew everyone. The more people you know, there are higher chances of drama, etc. I honestly prefer living in a more urban area because the childhood memories are priceless.
ReplyDeleteDrama can be good or bad, right? But a life without drama of any kind would be pretty bland.
DeleteThe storybook vision of rural America as a place where everyone knows and looks out for everyone else is a fiction, do you think?
From my experience, it is not a fiction. I had genuine neighbors that looked out for us and it was vice versa.
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