In many countries, there is an ongoing trend of people researching their own family history. From my perspective, this development brings both positive and negative effects. This essay will explain why this is the case as well as my personal viewpoint.
First, the sense of identity and belonging could be one of the reasons for the trend. This can simply derive from the curiosity to know about one’s origin. Most people often have the desire to know about their roots, about their family backgrounds. By gaining a deeper understanding about one’s family history, they would feel more emotionally connected with all family members, even the previous generation. Besides, the development of technology, providing people with online records and DNA tests, makes it much easier to access family information. Therefore, family research is conducted faster, leading to more people interested. For example, many people have used ancestry websites or DNA services to understand about their bloodline.
Second, I would argue this development results in both positive and negative outcomes. When each member researches their family history, they would have stronger family bonds, leading to more communication between generations such as younger members asking the elderly in family to tell about their previous days. By this way, they absorb more family values like sense of responsibility, morality, honesty and care, resulting in the appreciation of life. However, if people discover negative past events when researching about their family, they would suffer from emotional stress. As a result, more family conflicts could happen, leading to disappointment in all members. For instance, people expect to discover about the beautiful events in the past of their family but eventually uncover property disputes and tragedies.
In conclusion, the trend of researching the past of one’s own family happens on the grounds of the desire to understand about identity and belonging and the support of technology. In my opinion, the development has both positive and negative impacts, depending on different family contexts.