Why the digital nomad lifestyle you see online is fake
When I tell people I’m a digital nomad most of them still think I’m sipping gin tonic’s on a beach 24/7 while posting inspirational quotes to Instagram.
I can understand why they think this. If you search #digitalnomad on any platform you are hit with never-ending flexing.
- Photos on the beach
- Photos while hiking
- Photos on the balcony of some 6 bedroom house with a pool in Bali
Most of these pictures share one thing in common.
They use a Macbook as a prop to suggest the digital nomad is working through all of these events. And they look so fake, it’s easy to understand why people think we are really just laying in the sand all day.
Social media is fake. I know. Groundbreaking.
The thing is even though I work in social media for almost a decade now, I still ate up the “perfect feeds” of the digital nomad content creators.
I was convinced that the travelers I was inspired by were really having the best day of their life every time they opened their eyes.
I full-heartedly believed digital nomads don’t really have workdays or hamster wheel moments.
When I started traveling full-time back in October 2021 I asked my well-trained boyfriend to take pictures and videos of me every day.
I wanted every adventure to be a new travel influencer photo or a new viral TikTok video. I enjoyed people being so curious in comments wondering how I can live like this.
But around the 2-month mark, we were frustrated beyond your imagination. There were so many things to see and experience but we still worked the same amount as before.
Those sandcastle dreams started to crumble and we learned that being a digital nomad is not the same as having a life-long vacation.
Sharing the edited reality for the attention and approval
Nobody wants to share a picture of them working in a dorm room with a broken AC so their elementary teacher Mrs. Robins can judge them the next time they meet.
On the other hand, nobody follows you if you don’t have something interesting going on.
Are you doing some yoga? You better have the Louvre in the background. ( Actually, you can really have yoga there. Crazy. )
Are you a digital nomad?
You better be sharing the sunset on the beach every day or people will not click or like it.
