Many small rural communities in developed nations have limited access or are unrelated to relevant social information and experience. Even if they are surrounded by a mass of information from a large metropolitan area, they tend to make little use of these resources. Life on family farms or in small villages accustoms people to a kind of isolating self-sufficiency, so they may not visit the nearest city for years, and they neither have experience of nor feel the need for social agencies. As, in addition, familiar cultural and recreational activities which once brought people together over a broad geographical area cease to be held, this increasingly limited exposure to the resources of the contemporary world perpetuates a rural isolation and parochial value system that undermines attempts at inter-community cooperation.
Although advances in technology have made it theoretically possible for the resources of the whole world to be at the disposal of every human settlement, many small communities are in fact deprived of these resources. Sewer systems, farm equipment, educational opportunities, outside investment in local projects, are but a few of the amenities lacking due to remoteness of service or lack of knowledge of what is available and how best to use it. These factors discourage the development of new industries and the augmenting of local services.