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Why joint family system has depreciated over time
Grandparents, parents, uncles, aunts, siblings, cousins and sometimes, even servants are part of the big joint family system. Family lunches or dinners are the times to bond over food. Watching favourite family shows are the daily evening routine. And not to forget, the daily chit-chats over anything under the sun just before calling it a day. But the 21st century has seen the joint family system become a rarity, while nuclear families are a routine now. So, what has led to the depreciation of the joint family system over time?
The move to a new city for better future
When the next generation of a joint family system started looking for better prospects out of their birth city, it gave rise to nuclear families. This new generation made their adopted city their permanent home while they lived far away from their joint family. Their family back in native could not leave their ancestral home either. This migration of youth had led to a steep rise in nuclear families while the joint family system has started disintegrating.
Privacy
Although the benefits of the joint family system are many, including a shoulder to cry on or share happiness with loved ones, it also led to a peculiar problem of losing one’s privacy. As there are space constraints in a joint family, nothing could be kept private as there are just far too many people in the house. It’s difficult to keep one’s private life away from their own family members in a joint family system. Hence, many people choose to walk out of this traditional system and opt for the nuclear family for privacy.
Frequent fights
When there are too many people living under one roof, there are bound to be problems that will just cause bitter feelings among the members. These skirmishes could be over sharing of housework, paying for groceries, use of bathroom or toilets, and even as simple as watching television. These squabbles become a part and parcel of a joint family system. But many people tend to avoid such issues by just opting to go for the nuclear family system.
Just not financially viable
The notion that living in a joint family system helps in reducing expenses is nothing but a mirage. In fact, living in such a traditional way increases expenses. For example, when you bring a dessert home, you cannot bring it just for yourself or your wife and kids, but you have to bring it for each and every member of the family. Also, when family expenses are not shared in equal proportion among the members, it leads to resentment, bitterness and a desire to move out and start on your own.
Change in family values
Over time, people in the joint family system realised that living together under one roof created more problems than they would face when living alone. Once the new generation realised the joy of living alone with just their spouses and kids in metros, they just could not get back to the joint family system. This also led to elderlies being left to fend for themselves in the native. This change in family values led to the disintegration of the joint family system.