My point is that there is not one way of living. I was raised in a way where I had to follow just one path but seeing people living differently made me realize the diversity of lifestyles and made me aware of so many options in life.
Which is exactly what small town life is. No need to go nomad for that. In my experience, backpacking is neither slow life, nor cherishing small thing. It may be compared to multi-million city, but it's not compared to living in small town or village.
Backpacking is not black or white. There is backpackers who multihop cities every couple of days to get laid in backpacker hostels, some others travel slow, some to remote places, some others move where there is food and work, some others follow adventure, some others backpack while volunteering...
Not all of us want to escape. We just want to see the world and learn. I grew up in a small town, I dont have a place I could call home apart the earth...
On the other hand, I know there is an increase of people that want to escape, but maybe they have a reason to do it. City life is not for everyone. Many of us want to have a slower life, cherishing small things in nature and learn about the world directly, without intermediaries.
And I dont think is about struggling with the high competition or have a cheaper life somewhere else. Some of us just prefer to have a different life style. Some people chose to have 2 cars, a house and lots of stuff inside, some others just prefer to have only one backpack with their belongings in it and move slowly around the world...