There has been a discernible shift in the areas people reside in, from small communities to metropolises. Living in a rural village could be both advantageous and disadvantageous to some extent, which will be elucidated in this essay.
On the one hand, the most prominent upside of living in small villages is that residents could establish and develop stronger bonds with their relatives and neighbors. As people lived in close proximity to each other, they tended to share different stories with one another, from the important to even daily, trivial ones. When a baby was born, for example, the news could be disseminated in the neighborhood rapidly, and the whole community would celebrate it together. Such close-knit relationships could help the community to be supportive of each other and to be always willing to assist when others were in need.
On the other hand, some might argue that residing in small villages was a lot safer, considering the fact that a lower and more centered population could be easier for the local authorities to manage, to control crime rate better and thus maintain social order more effectively. That said, this notion is not without flaws. Poor infrastructure and the lack of modern facilities for security management could allow lawbreakers to commit crimes or social evils without being detected or tracked. This rendered rural villages in the past exceedingly unsafe. What could be worse was that the underdeveloped legal framework could barely act as a deterrent against would-be criminals. Another downside is the limited access to education due to the lack of academic institutions and amenities. This was potentially the chief culprit behind high illiteracy rate among rural residents in the past.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that while living in small communities could be beneficial, its drawbacks including possibly high crime rate and low levels of education should not be overlooked.