The Rising Trend of Digital Nomads & Remote Working
A vacation is a long period that one takes off from school or work to enjoy leisure and various other activities. After a tiring period of work, everyone wishes to have an ‘off’ from the usual busy schedules.
In an era where technology has become a need rather than a want, the world is now in a period of Digital Transformation; everything from paying bills and buying groceries to doing your job is done online. One can just sit at home, have a cup of coffee, and have everything that needs to be done within minutes.
People prefer having cozy home days or enjoying the sea breeze to being cramped up in an office cubicle.
The advent of the coronavirus pandemic has nudged the world into a transitory twilight, suspended between the death throes of a pre-COVID existence and the unseen emergence of a post-coronavirus era.
With companies being shut down due to restrictions worldwide, remote working became the new normal, allowing workers to do their jobs from anywhere in the world. People could enjoy ‘Family Time’ vacationing while working remotely. They are thus known as digital nomads, and this trend is becoming more widespread.
Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal once said,
“We went from being the Flintstones to the Jetsons in 9 months.”
Zoom meetings, park-and-text “waiting rooms,” and telehealth doctor’s visits became another part of the ‘new normal.’ People started to embrace the location-independent, technology-enabled lifestyle that allows them to travel and work remotely.
Employers, on the other hand, have realized that flexibility.
Creating your work schedule is the key to increasing team member engagement and retention rates. Hence the employees are now free of the standard nine-to-five timetable. They can decide when to work while experiencing different countries and cultures. This allows one to use a mobile device to work from anywhere in the world, allowing them to move around freely.
In recent years, people have shifted from valuing possessions to focusing on experiences. With this thought, Digital nomading allows people to meet and make new friends as an expat, ultimately leading to long-lasting friendships with groups of remote workers who assist with finding co-living and co-working spaces. These relationships help one to expand their network while navigating different challenges. Recent studies have shown that digital nomads might play a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and the creation of technology clusters around the world.
Another added advantage of this lifestyle is the low cost of living. One can reduce the overall expenses by comparing the cost of living in different locations and moving to a country with a lower price.
However, this can be a con too. As traveling and experiencing require money, being a digital nomad can put a dent in long-term savings. And one may experience administrative complications as well. Working remotely from a different country requires permits and tax codes. Other countries have separate rules and regulations, making it challenging to organize all the necessary documents from country to government.
So it can be said that becoming a Digital Nomad allows one to see the world, meet people from all walks of life, and be free to work where you want, when you want, without being shackled to your desk eight hours a day, five days a week. However, it entirely depends on one’s mind, as everyone’s situation is unique. For some, distance from “home” is an absolute blessing. But missing friends and family back home can be a real and impactful problem for others.
Constantly making new introductions can be socially exhausting, and something is comforting about having people around you, at times, who genuinely know you. But at the same time, technology can help one in a long way to stay connected with the people who matter at home. As a Digital Nomad’s life allows one to work from absolutely anywhere, this can also create an opportunity to head back to old destinations to reconnect with your loved ones.
Written by
Chathurya Kondapperuma
