We're so lucky to live in this part of history! This keeps recurring to me. For millenia, people have been contained and trapped by poverty in small communities, lack of options and opportunities. The furthest they'd travel is the town nearby. The furthest they'd work is the end of their field.
Our generation (as in all the people living now) are the first to really benefit from exponential technology. The internet opens up:
Employment across the world. With Upwork and Freelancer.com, Steemit and other places - anyone can get employment gigs with their skills. We're not limited to our local area. And once established, you can work on your own terms.
Instant access to education. If you want to learn a skill the internet is brimming with teachers on platforms like Coursera, Udemy and Skillshare.
Instant access to knowledge. One google search and you can find out factual information.
Lower and lower cost communications. Skype and Whatsapp calls are free to anyone with an internet connection. Traditional phone calls are getting ever cheaper.
New communities being created. With online forums, Facebook groups, Steemit etc. etc. more communities are being built around hobbies and subject interests. Most will remain online but there are more face-to-face interactions are taking place.
Low cost air travel. In Europe you can often get return flights to any major European city for less than £100/€100 if you book ahead. The world is shrinking and opening up.
Increasing ease to find accomodation. Airbnb or Spotahome lets you find a room or apartment easily for short or long-term let in many locations.
Now these are all trends you're probably aware of and have benefited from. But the real thrust of these technologies is creating a new socioeconomic class - particularly among young people.
If you're young and intelligent in a Western country you can:
Choose what you want to work on and what matters
Choose where in the world you want to live (subject to passport/visa restrictions and language barriers)
Choose who you want to live with or choose to live alongside
Choose the experiences you want to live
Well that's not limited to young and intelligent people - but they're the most likely to take advantage of these trends because they're less indoctrinated than past generations.
For many people adapting and developing themselves to the Digital Nomad life it's amazing and empowering.
There is a great transition of people moving from cubicle life to digital nomad life. Shifting from relying on corporations and others to relying on oneself to create and produce. It's an expansion of energy and consciousness - going from "poor little me" to taking responsibility for one's own efforts, power and skill and energy. Then using that self-energy to create something meaningful. At the same time they find themselves in some beautiful natural environment near a beach, greenery or mountains. Their senses open up and explore.
This Digital Nomad class will continue to grow and empower individuals.
I wonder where people go after this? What will happen to the digital nomads of today?
After a while of freewheeling and roaming - there is a desire to slow down and settle somewhere. You don't want to party all the time. You don't want short-term relationships. You don't want to be at the beck and call of clients all the time. You don't want to be constantly living between airports. It can be quite grim when the initial excitement wears off.
Any experienced freelancer or digital nomad gets burned out at some point. There might be a few dark nights of the soul. It can be tough.
Once you've achieved the pinnacle of what society celebrates - where do you go from there? Once you've got some money in the bank and an income. What then?
Your financial survival is fairly solid, you move up the hierarchy of needs. Following a certain amount of soul searching - that person looks at what matters for them and how they can put their soul-force energy into the world.
There is a desire for grounding, bonds with others, connections, honesty, healing, love, peace, more meaningful work.
While other generations have been trapped in survival mode most of the lives. Young digital nomads are breaking out of that employment trap and evolving earlier. Life stages which older generations don't reach until they're retired.
We're still early days. Lots of people are new to the digital nomad life and are still discovering others and themselves. But as time goes on, I think we'll see a lot of young people acting like old people.
I think lots of millenials will soon become like grandmas and grandads but less bitter and more generously spirited. They'll bring forward lots of incredibly loving and sensitive children who can grow up in very loving environments.
Digital nomads will partner up and settle down and create special little corners of the world - new businesses, new retreat places, new restaurants, new cafes and bars. They may still move often. They may still travel lots but they create bases for themselves.
For me that's all exciting and wonderfully wonderful. The old power structures of the world will crumble. Individuals are reclaiming their own power and wealth and we've got many meaningful happy years ahead of us. I think the current digital nomads will be those riding the crest of this wave.