11/11/2017 People in many countries are spending less time with their family. What are the reasons, and effects of this?
Outline:
Reasons:
- The shrinking family size: nuclear family, people move out, living away from parents à less time spent with family members.
- excessive use of electronic devices: TV, the internet à live in virtual world more, less time for real face to face communication.
- Busy industrial lifestyle à hectic schedule take too much time for work and study à not much left for family time each day.
Effects
- Lonely old age when children move out
- much time on electronic devices à not much exchanges with family members à reduce mutual understanding.
- Due to shortage of family time, children not well educated by parents à juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, game addiction.
Vocabulary:
scarce commodity | skeəs kəˈmɒdɪti | n. hàng hiếm |
phenomenon | fɪˈnɒmɪnən | n. hiện tượng |
excessive | ɪkˈsɛsɪv | a. quá nhiều |
heyday | ˈheɪdeɪ | n. thời hoàng kim |
settle down | ˈsɛtl daʊn | v. an cư, ổn định tại 1 nơi |
mesmerizing | ˈmɛzməraɪzɪŋ | a. ma mị quyến rũ |
tentacles | ˈtɛntəklz | n. xúc tu (bạch tuộc) |
hectic schedules | ˈhɛktɪk ˈʃɛdjuːlz | n. lịch dày đặc |
detriments | ˈdɛtrɪmənts | n. tổn hại |
severe | sɪˈvɪə | a. trầm trọng |
debilitate | dɪˈbɪlɪteɪt | v. làm giảm, yếu đi |
mutual understanding | ˈmjuːtjʊəl ˌʌndəˈstændɪŋ | n. sự hiểu nhau |
juvenile delinquencies | ˈʤuːvɪnaɪl dɪˈlɪŋkwənsiz | n. tội phạm vị thành niên |
anti-social behaviors | ˈænti-ˈsəʊʃəl bɪˈheɪvjəz | n. thái độ chống đối xã hội |
drug addiction | drʌg əˈdɪkʃ(ə)n | n. nghiện ma túy |
game addiction | geɪm əˈdɪkʃ(ə)n | n. nghiện game |
decentralization | diːsɛntrəlaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n | n. sự tách xa khỏi gốc |
close-knit families | kləʊs-nɪt ˈfæmɪliz | n. gia đình gắn bó mật thiết |
behavioral problems | bɪˈheɪvjərəl ˈprɒbləmz | n. vấn đề về hành vi |
Time spent with family members is an increasingly scarce commodity worldwide. This essay will analyze the causes and clarify the impacts of this phenomenon.
The restriction of time for family is due to the shrinking family size, excessive use of electronic devices, and the busy industrial lifestyle. First, this is the heyday of nuclear families when people decide to move out from their parents and establish their own lives away from home. That certainly limits family time to weekend meetings, or even rare Christmas gatherings when people may choose to settle down thousands of miles away from their parents’ home. Second, the internet and TV with mesmerizing content have wrapped their tentacles around people of all ages and make them live more in the virtual world than connect with their family in the real world. Third, the fast pace of life in the modern world sweeps people away in its current of hectic schedules, which reduces meeting time for family members to only early morning drive together to school, and late night wishes before sleeping.
The detriments of this trend are severe. First, less time children can spend with their parents due to their moving out can lead to lonely old age when people can rarely stop by their parents’ or grandparents’. Second, when more time is spent on entertainment with electronic devices, people hardly communicate with and update about other family members in real life, which debilitates their mutual understanding. Third, parents are submerged in their huge work load and spend less time educating their children, which explains for the increase in juvenile delinquencies, anti-social behaviors, drug addiction, and game addiction.
In conclusion, the decentralization of smaller families from parents, electronic entertainment, and the busy lifestyle are the reasons behind the shrinking of family time which leads to the loss of close-knit families and behavioral problems among young people. (310 ws)
