Fun Time: Living with Your Parents in Adulthood May have Benefits
Many internet forums allow people to post comments anonymously. Users don’t know much about each other, but they’re still able to have civil discussions. Some users, however, get a kick out of trolling other users, posting something that’s designed to offend or provoke. On a forum about the H-1B visa program, for example, a troll might write, “LOL! If Trump lets you stay in America, it’s only because he’s MAGAnanimous!”
Most people ignore these trolls, but some decide to hit back with a big insult of some sort. And quite often the insult goes like this: “Dude, you should really consider moving out of your mom’s basement and getting a job.”
The basement insult is intended to be doubly offensive. It’s not just about living in a basement — it’s about living in your mom’s basement. Living in your dad’s basement is just fine, apparently.
While living with your parents in your midtwenties or later has been frowned upon in Western culture for generations, it’s been common practice in other cultures. Why leave home and pay rent and utilities when you can stay home and have zero costs, except for an occasional lecture about turning off the lights?
But things are changing in India and other countries: more young people are moving out and taking pride in living independently, even as rent is soaring in big cities.
Aryan Kocchar, co-founder of the India-based company FinFloww, recently addressed this issue with a post on X. “Living with parents in your mid-20s isn’t a ‘failure’—it’s financial wisdom in a world where rent eats 50% of your income,” he wrote. “But hey, keep chasing ‘independence’ while you’re broke, lonely, and eating ramen for dinner. Choose your struggles wisely.”
I showed Kocchar’s post to my 20-year-old daughter. Here’s her response: “What’s wrong with eating ramen? I love ramen.”
Indeed, many young adults enjoy the freedom of eating whatever they want, even if their meals aren’t as elaborate or nutritious as what they’d get at home.
You can certainly save a lot of money by living with your parents, but moving out does have benefits, as people responding to Kocchar’s post noted.
“Totally disagree,” one of them wrote. “You don’t grow out of the environment you were first molded in. Being broke, lonely, and eating ramen for dinner will help ignite the fire you need to be self-made.”
Yes, eating ramen may help you ignite the fire. Nobody wants to eat cold ramen.
Everybody’s situation is unique, of course. Life is not “one size fits all.” Some people may benefit from leaving the nest early; others may benefit from sticking around and taking over the nest.
The benefits of staying home may include saving money on rent and utilities, and enjoying your mother’s cooking. If you don’t like living alone, you may be happier living with your parents (and younger siblings). It’s not just about your happiness, of course — you may also be useful to your parents, perhaps giving them rides in your fancy new car that zero rent helped buy.
The drawbacks of staying home may include having to tolerate an unhealthy atmosphere. Some parents may be controlling or abusive. The basement may be dark and dank. Your mom might give you too many cookies and, like a website, start tracking you everywhere.
Being too dependent on your parents may also keep you from developing important life skills, such as waking yourself up in the morning, paying your bills on time, and igniting whatever fires you need to have self-made ramen.
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http://www.khabar.com/magazine/chaitime/
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips, and more.]
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