What are some disadvantages of living in rural areas? What are the advantages?
Last Updated: 02.07.2025 13:55
I can tell you with high levels of confidence that my experience growing up in a rural area was overwhelmingly positive.
you have to deal with people who are conformists - when you go to school, everyone just seems to be average and predictable - it was like there was a handful of different ‘characters or profiles’, and most people fit into a neat little box. On the bright side, it made choosing/finding the outliers quite simple.
Disadvantages
My family had 64 acres of land.
when you see a beautiful girl out there in the real world, it was life changing……like omg, literally jaw dropping, butterflies, the whole nine yards.
So, with that in mind…if you’d like to join me we are going to do a bit of time travelling today.
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most of the time I would just go outside in my boxers
I release it to the internet.
I can distinctly remember the world before screens took over.
What is the scariest thing that ever happened in your life?
We basically had no neighbours.
To be more specific we were situated just about one hour north of Toronto.
if your power goes out, that could be problematic
I mean you could see their houses, but you’d need a set of binoculars to make out what was going on.
The asker of the question calls for disadvantages first.
some people would say a lack of diversity. Whether that be culture, food, religion, thought, tradition, etc. This is certainly not a disadvantage to me, but it could be to you - so I’ll list it anyway
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if you are a kid you will need a drive to your friend’s houses / it may be difficult for your friends to get a ride to your place
Life was less trivial - doing things like cutting the grass, helping my dad build things, helping my mom in the garden….felt important, purposeful, and I had a higher sense of duty.
less keeping up with the Joneses - almost no gossip, rumors, talking behind each other peoples back - which I find is the standard for almost every person I meet, which is a despicable quality.
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exploring the woods was magical, you are in instant flow state - a sense of wonderment encapsulates your entire being. You use your mind to transcend reality and enter a different realm or world - you did not require any sort of external influence. It was automatic - boom.
This is a major point for me here: if you are smart and/or ambitious, and there are no successful people living a high quality of life around you might become miserable, alienated, depressed and not have a clue why.
not nearly as susceptible to state sponsored ideological brainwashing
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need to get bussed into town to go to school and you feel like you are different than the ‘city folk’
Sam
I didn’t have anyone to relate to really….
This is not some sort of smear campaign on people who grew up in the city, rather this is what I observed. This is my point of view.
less jealously / envy - due to less comparison to others
While writing this, I had on some relaxing 432 hz music on.
For added context, I have stayed in the following cities: Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston | Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and currently reside in Calgary.
So I’ve seen both sides of the fence! Rural and Urban.
I could keep going and going and going, so many memories are pouring in.
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less exposure to and judgement from stupid, sad, depressed people.
I didn’t know what the concept of lazy, or procrastination was when I was younger, I learned that through other kids, media and ‘society’.
riding around your families property on a dirt bike as a kid, you feel like you are in a movie - things like this lead to higher quality of life and overall contentment as a child- you feel like you are so cool.
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I encourage you to express them in the comment section.
When I was a young boy, my life felt like a fairy tale.
when you hang out with someone, it is more meaningful and special because you have so little human contact outside of school and extra curriculars.
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having a dog in the country is a completely different experience from having a dog in a city. When you can simply just open the door and let them outside - giving them the freedom to do their thing, was nothing short of incredible. They develop a personality, and you can tell how rich their life is compared to city dogs (lol just like people ;).
have a better conception of who you are and what you like doing - less copying of others just for the sake of fitting in
lack of entertainment options
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My grandfather also had a house on the property - a humble 10 000 sq. ft. bungalow, with an indoor pool. He had a massive barn for his race horses, it was full of antiques, and miscellaneous oddities.
I seem to somehow forget this fact as well….many days I would hear the roars of lions.
less noise - soooo little noise - peace, quiet, tranquility
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Lived in a beautiful custom built house.
Almost no advertisements
As a lawn ornament he had a red CN rail train caboose air lifted in Via helicopter.
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I was born and raised in the country.
you have have big ass house parties and no police show up - I believe I had around a 60 person party and my older brother had well over 100 people. For the record there was no damage, just a clogged toilet.
your conception of the world is very small, you have no idea what or who is out there
On the topic of imagination as a kid you can shift your identity and take on a different role and act out an expansive detailed storyline. You can include others on your quests. You basically live out fantasies and have internal tales of triumph. Sure some people in a city could be creative and imaginative, my point is…when you are always in solitude, and alone with your mind - its the default condition.
you may have a more innate sense of adventure, and the idea of getting up and going out of the house is just a normal thing to do
I admit I am lamenting.
proximity to shopping - its a whole ordeal - must be planned out first
without really putting yourself out there, with sports, meet ups, activities, parties etc …. and actively trying to meet a lot of people, you will be lonely (this can be great for some introverted types), but for me as I got older - I wanted more.
people may be ‘stuck in their ways’ - unable to reconsider alternative ways of being / thinking.
Advantages
I’m going to list off a couple advantages and disadvantages.
For reference the following ideas are coming from the view point of an adolescent mind that lived in a rural area from 1993–2012 (before social media).
Here’s a picture of the house - its been sold for some time now so it doesn’t matter anymore if
Social media and screen addiction has profoundly wounded the human soul.
if only you could take my experience of hot tubing during a -20 Celsius Canadian winters night and download it into your mind. We had a certain model of hot tub with a lay down lounge chair, imagine the led lights, clams popping out of the exterior walls of the hot tub shooting out streams of water, the sound of a waterfall cascading down. Surround sound speakers. Overhead a view of sky blanketed with stars. Unbelievable. No light pollution, not a care in the world.
Wish you all the best,
slower internet
I went into a pretty deep meditative state which sent me into a whirl wind of vivid imagery.
I’d appreciate that.
there is less rules - for example if you want to start a bonfire by shooting a gas can with a pump shotgun, go right ahead.
If I was able to stir up some memories from your childhood.
Fast forward to the present day….
Out in the wooded area, there was a ‘secret’ half mile oval shaped track. In the middle was a custom built pond in the shape of a ‘P’ (first letter of our last name).
Here’s a picture of the late Pure Bred German Boxer dog Huxley:
There was a wild life sanctuary a few kilometers away.
My dad had a convertible Chevy Corvette, a full on hard core gym in our basement and a secret walk in armory and safe room. Blast proof reinforced steel and concrete. Damn, I was raised by a cool dude.
I am 30 years old and have been living in a downtown city environment for 5+ years now.
imagination - oh my f***ing god. It seemed like some people who where born and raised in a city environment are literally living without an imagination. Like they’ve never had a original thought in their lives.
security - people can come on your property and steal your riding lawnmower (this happened to us)
If your family does not get a long and fights a lot - that’s basically all you see and know about the world until you leave and begin reformatting your brain.
having a girl over was also extremely special. It really felt like I was inviting someone into my world. Being alone out in the country with your crush…you feel like…again you're in a movie and its supremely romantic environment.
Yes, real live lions.
you may be more connected to, and appreciative of nature. I had the time of my life looking for and playing with toads and frogs as a child. Beavers, deer, coyote death battles happening outside my bedroom window….
if you are a person who requires high stimulation - likes a crowd, noise, and the ‘buzz’ of a densely populated area, you may have a prolonged sensation of unease and not exactly know why
your world is more internal focused - may lead to having higher self-esteem, little to no anxiousness
going to the movies, an amusement park or even to a mall, felt special and like a big event….a massive deal - like Wo0oo00o0o0ow.