Digital Nomads

Because my business takes place entirely online, I usually spend all day in front of a computer. After work, I need to step out before going to bed. This evening, I didn’t realize how hot it was outside until I stepped out at 8 pm. I often find myself wandering the neighborhood for sweets; it’s something to do after dinner. However, most stores that sell sweets close early as if only kids would want sweets. Fortunately, there are some places that stay open late. I think I know them all by heart.

Most people would probably hate what I do, but I recently learned from @wandersauce that there is a community of people called “digital nomads” who would love to have my work situation. They move from one city to another while working remotely. In a way, they are always half working and half on vacation. The biggest challenge for them is finding work that never requires them to be anywhere specific.

Ironically, I never go anywhere because I hate traveling. I could fly to India tomorrow and keep working as usual; my clients wouldn’t know or care. So, I’m certainly “digital” but the opposite of “nomad,” more like “digital settler”

In the last ten years, I became increasingly digital. These days, clients don’t want to see me even if I wanted to see them, because meeting in person takes up a lot of time. In most cases, what we need to communicate would only take about 30 minutes, but to do that in person can easily take three hours or more. Half of your day could be gone for one meeting when seven such meetings could take place online in the same amount of time.

I walk around at night in order to remind myself that I still live in a physical world. An online game called Second Life used to be very popular where people went after work to escape real life. This is now flipped; digital workers go to the real world after work to escape the virtual world. Since my responsibilities and obligations are all online, I feel freer in the physical world. After a tough day in the virtual world, the sweets in the real world taste pretty good.