數碼遊牧 | Are you sick of the daily grind

Are you sick of the daily grind, working at a desk in an office day in, day out? Why not sit on a beach hammock instead? The author of this article claims he has successfully made the transition to becoming a digital nomad, so perhaps he might be able to give you some tips on how to break free from the rat race and drag yourself away from your desk.
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The benefits certainly seem alluring: you could set yourself up permanently on a beach, taking breaks from a work schedule that you are in charge of, enjoying regular swims and sips of cocktails. You won’t be tied down by any worldly possessions, you can organise your life how you see fit, and you have the freedom to move on to the next location whenever the mood strikes you.

The article makes it sound as though anyone could live this idealistic lifestyle and all they need do is move abroad with their laptop right now.

So, is this finally the point when the much-heralded lifestyle of the future will finally go mainstream? The figures quoted in the article seem to suggest so, however, these are likely disingenuous, as asking people what they would consider themselves to be is very much like asking someone what they would like to be – it’s not based so much on the reality of the situation, but rather on an ideal image that a person likes to project to the world of themselves.

It’s also fairly unlikely that this work mode will gain much more traction than just being another label for a gap-year for millennials, since as the article notes, the difficulty of constantly moving around makes maintaining meaningful relationships next to impossible, turning them more into a kind of disposable friendship.

​On top of that, in order to find enough work to maintain such a lifestyle, you’re inevitably going to have to settle down somewhere, as pretty much all of the people quoted in the article have (including the author who has lived in Saigon for a year), in which case it is just leading the life of an expat, something that has been going on for much longer than the Internet, computers and fancy names like “digital nomad” have been in existence.

參考資料:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/11/digital-nomads-work-technology-asia-cities-wifi
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