5 Reasons You Should Not Move to a Small Town

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ds and be able to talk to someone you know wherever you go, but it’s also nice to have the opportunity to meet new people. In small towns, meeting new people is a rarity. You already know everyone! This makes it especially hard to date or make new friends. Basically, your only dating options are someone you know from high school or someone who is not in your age pool (if you want to date someone who hasn’t dated any of your friends). And the same goes for friendships. You grow up with the same group of kids all through elementary school then high school. Your friends are really chosen for you and it’s hard to find new ones.</p><h2 id="0525">3 — Everyone knows you… and your business</h2><figure id="7092"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*e8K_XQ75Kn5CSngrxirA1A.jpeg"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/@keira-burton?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels">Keira Burton</a> from <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/multiracial-students-gossiping-about-black-man-with-notepad-6147394/?utm_content=attributionCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pexels">Pexels</a></figcaption></figure><p id="05f5">You can’t go anywhere without having to stop and talk to people. Everyone’s stopping you, asking you how you’re doing, and what’s new. It’s hard to get any errands done. Plus, sometimes I just want to leave the house in sweatpants, a bun, no makeup, and not be bothered by anyone — but that happens very rarely.</p><p id="aeac">Not only does everyone know you, but everyone knows everything about you. As a teenager, I could never get away with anything without my parents finding out. Snuck out to a party? They knew about it the next day. Skipped class? They knew before I even came home.</p><p id="3cb0">Even now, as an adult, I feel like I can’t d

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o anything without everyone finding out. Sometimes, it would be nice to just be another nameless face at the grocery store and not have everyone you know knowing exactly what you’re buying and what you’re wearing while buying it. I have actually had my mother ask me recently:</p><blockquote id="fbbd"><p>I heard you were out buying a cake today. Who was that for?</p></blockquote><p id="9327">Questions like this are a daily occurrence. In small towns, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.</p><h2 id="91a3">4 — Limited job opportunities</h2><p id="07fa">In a small town, there are very limited job opportunities. Most people stay in these towns for life, and there is low turnover. Not to mention, there just aren’t many places that can employ people in the first place. As I said, there are not many stores, restaurants, etc. However, this one isn’t so bad if you don’t mind commuting to the city.</p><h2 id="2ab4">5 — Lack of culture</h2><p id="6f2c">Most people living in small towns have been there for their whole lives. In my experience, small towns are not very diverse. Most people have the same religion, skin colour, and world views. And most of these people are not open to change as they grew up so close-minded. Many young adults going off to college are being exposed to different ways of thinking for the very first time and the people who have never left haven’t been exposed to anything different. It can be hard to be neighbours and even have mutual friends with people who have this mindset.</p><p id="81ef">Small town life is definitely not for everyone. It can get boring and it’s not easy having everyone know everything about you. If you can look past these downfalls and appreciate the benefits that small towns have to offer, then you may find the slower lifestyle to be quite beautiful.</p></article></body>

Trust me, I know from experience.

I live in a small town, population 5,000. While I do enjoy the small-town life (see my top ten reasons here), I would be a fool not to recognize the many drawbacks. And let’s be honest, I complain about these drawbacks often.

Here are the top 5 reasons that you should not move to a small town.

1 — There’s nothing to do

This is probably the biggest reason. Small towns are boring. You can’t go to the movies, to the club, to a cute cafe, shopping, and you can’t try new restaurants because, well, we just don’t have any of that! The only place I can watch new movies in my town is on my couch. The only place we can go for entertainment is one of two bars, or the bowling alley. I can go shopping at the grocery store or go eat at one of our three local restaurants (not counting McDonald’s or Wendy’s), but that’s about it.

There are plenty of outdoors activities but if I want to do any of the activities mentioned above, my only option is to drive one hour to the city.

2 — You know everyone

Sure, it’s nice to have a lot of friends and be able to talk to someone you know wherever you go, but it’s also nice to have the opportunity to meet new people. In small towns, meeting new people is a rarity. You already know everyone! This makes it especially hard to date or make new friends. Basically, your only dating options are someone you know from high school or someone who is not in your age pool (if you want to date someone who hasn’t dated any of your friends). And the same goes for friendships. You grow up with the same group of kids all through elementary school then high school. Your friends are really chosen for you and it’s hard to find new ones.

3 — Everyone knows you… and your business

You can’t go anywhere without having to stop and talk to people. Everyone’s stopping you, asking you how you’re doing, and what’s new. It’s hard to get any errands done. Plus, sometimes I just want to leave the house in sweatpants, a bun, no makeup, and not be bothered by anyone — but that happens very rarely.

Not only does everyone know you, but everyone knows everything about you. As a teenager, I could never get away with anything without my parents finding out. Snuck out to a party? They knew about it the next day. Skipped class? They knew before I even came home.

Even now, as an adult, I feel like I can’t do anything without everyone finding out. Sometimes, it would be nice to just be another nameless face at the grocery store and not have everyone you know knowing exactly what you’re buying and what you’re wearing while buying it. I have actually had my mother ask me recently:

I heard you were out buying a cake today. Who was that for?

Questions like this are a daily occurrence. In small towns, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, someone else does.

4 — Limited job opportunities

In a small town, there are very limited job opportunities. Most people stay in these towns for life, and there is low turnover. Not to mention, there just aren’t many places that can employ people in the first place. As I said, there are not many stores, restaurants, etc. However, this one isn’t so bad if you don’t mind commuting to the city.

5 — Lack of culture

Most people living in small towns have been there for their whole lives. In my experience, small towns are not very diverse. Most people have the same religion, skin colour, and world views. And most of these people are not open to change as they grew up so close-minded. Many young adults going off to college are being exposed to different ways of thinking for the very first time and the people who have never left haven’t been exposed to anything different. It can be hard to be neighbours and even have mutual friends with people who have this mindset.

Small town life is definitely not for everyone. It can get boring and it’s not easy having everyone know everything about you. If you can look past these downfalls and appreciate the benefits that small towns have to offer, then you may find the slower lifestyle to be quite beautiful.