In the past, the extended family is a symbol of harmony and unity so that extended relatives unit on every festival to have dinner together in order to maintain their irreplaceable blood relationships. However， this symbol is less unique nowadays and has been diluted by technology and the change of beliefs.
To begin with, members in an extended family get less face to face interactions. Firstly, the modern construction of urban and even rural residential areas witnessed the mushroom of high-rise flats and isolated neighborhoods so that extended family members no longer greet each other every day like what they used to do in courtyard houses. People may say social media like Wechat and What's App help to communicate, however the real problem is that people seldom use them to communicate with their distant relatives since they are obsessed with their busy work life and children's education problems, and once they get time off, they would seek entertainment and convince themselves of contacting their extended relatives later until they totally forget it. Face to face interactions are essential for interpersonal relationships since you are more sincere and closer with each other when facing them directly, so less face to face communication brings less intimacy among extended relatives.
The change of beliefs also affects how people view their extended families—individualism or other groups based on external factors are getting more and more popular in this modern society. People either get more isolated in their own lives or care more about the people who are in the same ca group or gender group, thus the only united identity as an extended family is no longer their first choice, people have more things to strive for rather than put extended family first. If we call the reduction of face to face interaction physical departure, then the evolution of people’s thoughts will be their choice for self developments.
All in all, an extended family is no longer the priority of life for many people while their expanded choices brought by the advancing technology enable them to live more for themselves.
