Here’s To The The Digital Nomads. And The True Cost Of Their Freedom.

Daily Blog #68

There are parts of the world that are described in multitudes of Instagram posts as “untouched” – the wild places, we are to suppose, where a lens and a filter are all that stands between the photographer and the deadly, beautiful unknown.

But these untouched plots of paradise are full of wifi signals, mapped out by connections and shared experiences and masterclasses.

These are the places where you’ll find them. The travellers with MacBooks and portable power banks and a carefully designed and manicured social presence. They call themselves digital nomads and their mission is to wander the planet, working globally, as they sell ebooks and courses about how to wander the planet, working globally, selling ebooks and courses about how to…

The digital nomads live off the land, by which we mean the poorer economies where the US dollars they harvest in their PayPal accounts can buy with five times the power of the local currency.

It’s an evolution, a form of neo-colonialism that profits from the exploitation and brutality of invaders who took what they wanted and left shattered, manipulated or abandoned economies in their wake, primed for use and abuse by moneyed up bright eyed tech travellers.

The digital nomads have a message for you. You too can live a life of luxury in the untouched wilderness. As long as your conscience is kept at bay and you don’t think too hard about the role your own past and cultural history has played in allowing your selfies on a pure sandy beach.

Because the truth is, it’s only possible through pain.

We can say that the digital nomads support the local economies by paying for cheap drinks and cheap villas. We can say that they contribute to the economic growth of their newfound homes in the tropics. And there is some truth to that.

But there’s more truth, if you look for it. There’s truth in saying that if their ancestors hadn’t pillaged and burned their way through every non-western country they could get their blood drenched hands on, the digital nomads wouldn’t be able to afford jack-shit in truly sovereign nations.

There’s truth in saying that it’s only the impact of unnecessary wars fought by western empires over resources that never belonged to them in the first place that allow those resources to be enjoyed through a half-price cocktail hour at a tourist themed tiki hut while the sun sets over the bay.

When the eBooks go on sale, and the promise of those “today’s office” Instagram posts showing laptops on tanned legs begins to seem appealing, I can’t help thinking of what it really means. And who we really are. And who we’ll become if we maintain our kleptocratic ancestors’ approach to the riches of countries who we don’t understand, and never will.

It may be a lot cheaper to run a lifestyle business as a digital nomad. The cost of that cheapness is something I don’t believe any of us can truly afford.

Those untouched places will become spoiled over time, by a thousand footprints, digital and physical. But their beauty will live on. As long as someone maintains the servers, where their memories exist as marketing collateral for lifestyle brands.