Pros and Cons of the Digital Nomad Life
Pros and Cons of the Digital Nomad Life
Working while traveling the world has always appealed to me to the point of sheer excitement, so I assumed it must for most. As I asked my more sedentary acquaintances in a casual poll, however, I discovered that most people are either not very interested in living the Digital Nomad life or can’t even wrap their heads around why someone would be. At first, I was puzzled by the fact that most of my oldest friends did not share my zeal for combining adventure and routine in the Digital Nomad lifestyle. After some time abroad, however, I have realized that I may have been to quick to underestimate the benefits of a more traditional lifestyle and even recognize the, dare I say, Cons of the Digital Nomad way. Having said that, a con can always prove to be a pro with the right goggles on, so let’s dive on in.
Bad news first
Cons
1 AVOIDANCE
We have all heard the old cliché, “Wherever you go, there you are.” It is an annoying adage, but for the most part it’s true. Self-work is a nasty, tedious business, and it becomes far too easy to avoid personal issues with the distracting phantasmagoria of constantly resettling in new places.
2 GOOD-BYEs ARE TOUGH
While I have made more friends traveling the world than I could have dreamed of in my years of living at home, I have never had to say goodbye so many times. And to those of you who are thinking in clichés thanks to the first con, I know what you are thinking: “It is better to have had and lost, than to have never had at all.” Right? Plus, its not like you can never see your international friends again. Sure, this con is nothing so dramatically final as the last episode of Friends, but it takes its toll on you nonetheless.
3 DATING
While you do indeed gain a certain mystical charisma when traveling and prospects are aplenty, relationships, if they happen at all, happen too fast and don’t last. Ofcourse we can all appreciate a good summer fling, but when every month is summer it starts to feel like every ex-fling was the one that got away.
4 BECOME JADED
Much like the tired police detective who doesn’t bat an eye for a gruesome murder, the jaded travel becomes desensitized. When all the beaches blur together and the cathedrals become one, you begin to ask yourself what the point of seeing so many is. OK, so beaches are not crime scenes, but I do think long-term travel and detective work can cause analogous attitudes.
PROS
Now for the good news. Like I said before, every Con can be a Pro in disguise.
- INSPIRATION
While everyone knows you can’t run from your problems, sometimes a change of scenery does wonders for the ol’ mind and spirit. There is nothing like the lights of a new city or the smells of a new beach town to put a skip in your step and get your mind reeling with inspiration. Sometimes a new place can even give you a new take on an old problem.
2 Make so many connections
This year I moved to Medellin, Colombia for six months with the intention of networking with other Digital Nomads. Although the Covid restrictions prevented many travelers from enjoying the beautiful city, the ones that weren’t deterred were nearly all Digital Nomads (as opposed to backpackers just stopping by). This made it so much easier to network with people with similar values. But besides work connections, I still keep in touch with my international backpacker friends from when I began traveling six years ago.
- DATING
I think most of us are guilty of saying or thinking the following: “Women are so…” or “Men are so…” Well the useful thing about dating people all over the world is that you realize your perceptions are largely cultural and what is true of men or women in your own country is not always true in another. By the same token, somethings never change. Boys will be boys as they say. My point is that it’s an interesting experience diving into such a diverse dating pool.
- In Depth Culture
When slow traveling as a Digital Nomad you get to experience culture that you can’t experience on a regular old short vacation. You can actually practice a language with locals for an extended period of time. Thanks to slow travel I can distinguish different Spanish accents, whereas my friends back home still think it’s all “Mexican”. You can visit secret gems tourists don’t have time to visit and even gain a new appreciation for your own country.
I wrote this essay of sorts not in order to convince anyone in the way of lifestyle, but rather to reflect on the Digital Nomad lifestyle for myself and anyone who’s interested. Of course, all things carry their pros and their cons, but there is so much subjectivity involved in distinguishing them. As I demonstrated, a con is the other side of a pro, and how we choose to see them is where things get interesting.
Wesley Olsen 