I'm not sure exactly what this page is about. I'm often pondering about what kind of lifestyle I want to live and I'm facinated by other lifestyles people live.
- Does it come with a philosophy?
- Could it be lived by anyone on the planet?
- What draws people to it?
- Do the people have a certain look?
- How do people initiate themselves into it?
This is a very common term now. Given that a lot of people can work from a laptop, why constrain your location? There are a lot of resources available:
- https://nomadlist.com/
- http://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad
- http://www.notyourparentslife.com/
- http://www.nomadicnotes.com/digital-nomad/
Perhaps partly because it is so commonly mentioned now, I feel more compelled to express my cynical thoughts to counter balance the story:
- I'm not sure it is always sensitive to local cultures
- lots of plane travel and so CO2 emissions etc
- it can be quite expensive - limits the accessibility
- also very narrow range of people that can partake in it - must be able to work from laptop only
- not clear how real (i.e. in the physical world) community works
- does not seem a useful model to base the wider world on
I shouldn't be so negative though. It is great that some people can do this, and it's totally possible to do it 100% responsibly, and positively. Your lifestyle doesn't need to be a model for the whole world anyway.
http://allcodesarebeautiful.com/en/digital-nomadism-vision/ gives a nice overview of some positive and negative aspects.
It's also probably the closest to my lifestyle (people are most critical of those most similar to them right? they're the competition!), although I'm more like "semi-nomadic". I have been working from 5 different cities in 3 different countries in the last year, but this is going to slow down now.
Lots of train-hopping talk. No/low money. Punk attitude (what is this? it has a certain abrasiveness, there is an enemy, us vs them). Seems USA flavoured.
I like the sense of freedom. You don't need permission to live, you can just do it. Ties in with some statelessness ideas, individual sovereignty.
The moneyless manifesto is mentioned in the money section. It's not just about no money, it's about what you do next. I'm a bit meh about the economic arguments presented by the manifesto thus far, but the part of life that exists where money can't go is definately my favourite bit, and if they have some good ideas about this then great!
Kids, long term partner, stable house, probably job(s). You know.
Sometimes people paint this is the one true lifestyle. If you don't achieve this you've failed. Not even that but you are probably scrouging off other people. Not pulling your weight.
And on the other side sometimes people paint this is as boring, traditional, conservative, empty, capitalist, consumerist. You do this because you're afraid, or scared, or unimaginative.
Neither of this characterisations capture the essence for me though. The family unit has been a persistent pattern of people living together for a long time and it can be an extremely positive thing. It provides a base of stablility in a world of uncertainty. It seems hard to organise large groups of people living together but the family unit often works out well.
I don't have this life myself, but I came from it. I like to think I have a symbiotic relationship with the family unit style of life now (how so?). It seems nice to also have a bigger local community beyond family, but the family can be a starting point for that.