These days, it is very uncommon in families to gather at a certain time and have meals together. I believe that this trend happened due to a host of factors, and it could result in severely consequences
To begin with, there are several causes behind this trend. First of all, each person in the family might have a distinct schedule. For instance, regarding parents, they often leave home early in the morning and sometimes come home late at night. Meanwhile, children usually have to go to extra classes or join in several extracurricular activities after school such as sports. Thus, flexible breakfast or dinner time should be applied. Another point to make is that convenience food is prevailing in modern society. People can have the option to order food on applications or websites at any time, which means they can minimize the waiting period for mealtime. This may lead to the fact that members of a family can eat individually at their own pace
This tendency, in my opinion, is detrimental. In the past, mealtime used to be prepared and shared among family members, enabling them to build interpersonal relationships and strengthen family bonds. As the number of meals eaten together fell, these bonds would be loosen. This might lead to miscommunication and separation among family members
To conclude, the two main reasons behind the decline in the frequency of mealtime in a family are the hectic schedule and the booming of the fast food industry, and I believe the drawbacks it brings to people’s lives are more than we could imagine.