Are you already living the life of a traveler? Well the digital nomad lifestyle is gaining terrain very fast according to Pieter Levels [1], serial founder of Indie startups and an experienced digital nomad himself. He says there will be 1 billion digital nomads by 2035.
How come this new lifestyle gains ground so quickly? How does nomadism connect with community living? Let’s have a closer look.
Experiences over possessions
Marc Knaup wrote everything he learned about the life as a digital nomad for Medium [2]. He shares that 78 per cent of millennials would spend their money on experiences rather than on buying things. A big influencer for this is the rise of the digital age. It makes people share their experiences widely via social media. Therefore people nowadays and specifically the millennials are so much more interested in experiences. For them creating memories for a lifetime is more fulfilling then owning static status symbols, like previous generations.
How does this value shift connect to our human history?
Being a nomad is part of our DNA
Another fact is that modern humans lived as nomads for 99 per cent of our history according an article in the independent [3]. there was no need for possessions. The concept of ‘owning’ was unknown to our ancestors. Nature was shared between plants, animals and humans.
This means, living the life of a traveler, having a few or no possessions, working when it is needed is not new to us human beings. And today we see some of these traits reflected in the digital nomads.
Community living for the digital nomad
To cater to this new lifestyle new concepts for co-living and co-working are being developed rapidly. One of those companies that has constructed an international housing network for the digital nomads is called Roam. Founder Bruno Haid [4] says that the major selling point for Roam is its community, in which no one is supposed to feel strange or isolated for leading an itinerant life.
What about you?
Are you already living the life of a digital nomad? Or have you ever thought about experiencing this new lifestyle yourself?
With the experiences of living globally, working on different assignments, I feel very much connected to the nomad lifestyle. I realize I am not that far away of becoming a digital nomad myself. Even though it has its challenges – I like the idea!
Hetty Lavrijsen
10 februari 2020
[1] “There will be 1 billion digital nomads by 2035” https://levels.io/future-of-digital-nomads/
[2] The Big Picture 2/8: What enables such a lifestyle and contributes to its growth | Marc Kaup https://medium.com/@fluidsonic/digital-nomadism-trends-15ba47af02c
[3] State of nature: how modern humans lived as nomads for 99 per cent of our history https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/world-history/state-of-nature-how-modern-humans-lived-as-nomads-for-99-per-cent-of-our-history-1604967.html
[4] When You’re a ‘Digital Nomad,’ the World Is Your Office | A global network of live-work spaces is springing up to serve this new breed of millennial wanderer. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/magazine/when-youre-a-digital-nomad-the-world-is-your-office.html
