"I left my all belongings back to the country I was born. I have no single place on earth to call my home. In fact the entire earth is my home."
Hearing this straight statement from one of my Instagram followers, a woman of 35, I was frozen for a while. It was hard to believe, but I found it to be true. She further told me that she roams about from one country to another, from one project to the other in order constantly keep making some money to fund a vagabond life. She has already been to 45 different countries across continents and aspires to keep doing this for rest of the life. Unbelievable but true.
Part of the reason this is unbelievable for me is, I was born and brought at an age when Internet was not a big deal. It was definitely taking shape and Google was gradually coming up.
In past one decade or so, Internet has brought about a sea change, not only in the way people conduct business, connect with each other but the social fabric and the mindsets too.
Today there is a big tribe of the so called 'digital nomads' who roam the world and work from their laptops, smartphones or other gadgets. They take up assignments that do not require physical presence of the worker. They are remote workers and new age entrepreneurs. They are grabbing my interest and I have made around 200 Digital nomad friends on my Instagram account. To be honest, I secretly envy their lifestyle.
In fact some of the old world brick and mortar companies are receiving applications from their employees to let them work remotely, or else give them a sabbatical for a year. Though not all positions in a brick and mortar company are made for such luxuries, some of the modern work avenues such as, digital marketing, website design and development, content writing, social media marketing, photography etc can easily be carried out irrespective of the place of work, as long as they are connected through Internet.
Capitalizing on the trend several companies have come up providing co-living and co-working space to digital nomads and taking them out on a trip for long duration tours ranging from 6 months to a year.
Internet is truly redefining the way people are leading their lives and working. I don't want to hide my own aspiration to be digital nomad. I am fascinated by their lifestyle and spirit of adventure.
Gone are the days when an offshore visit was a big deal. I remember while I was in school, one of my teachers went to the US for 10 days on some work assignment. When he was back, he was give continuous 7 days morning assembly slot to speak about his experience. He was almost a celebrity, not only among the students but among his peer groups, friends and family too. Everyone wanted to hear his experience.
Now even the students are going all over the world for Higher Studies. Institutions are financing the higher studies, scholarships are coming through and some of them even prefer to work part time along with studies to fund their university fee, boarding and lodging.
So, its a complete disruptive trend that we witness today. People are more mobile and the level of acceptance is going high. Digital nomads prefer a heterogeneous group, where people come from different countries, backgrounds and specializations, and they gel together, bond with each other, help each other.
Not that the quality of work is going down or work is suffering with this trend. In fact, what is palpable is just the opposite. With better exposure and sharing of knowledge and know-how quality of work is getting better.
Now the world and the humanity and the society is going through a total disruption, fueled by the Internet. This is a trend to watch out for! We are truly passing through an interesting times. Those who were born before 1980 are perhaps in a better position to appreciate the change.
Hearing this straight statement from one of my Instagram followers, a woman of 35, I was frozen for a while. It was hard to believe, but I found it to be true. She further told me that she roams about from one country to another, from one project to the other in order constantly keep making some money to fund a vagabond life. She has already been to 45 different countries across continents and aspires to keep doing this for rest of the life. Unbelievable but true.
Part of the reason this is unbelievable for me is, I was born and brought at an age when Internet was not a big deal. It was definitely taking shape and Google was gradually coming up.
In past one decade or so, Internet has brought about a sea change, not only in the way people conduct business, connect with each other but the social fabric and the mindsets too.
Today there is a big tribe of the so called 'digital nomads' who roam the world and work from their laptops, smartphones or other gadgets. They take up assignments that do not require physical presence of the worker. They are remote workers and new age entrepreneurs. They are grabbing my interest and I have made around 200 Digital nomad friends on my Instagram account. To be honest, I secretly envy their lifestyle.
| image from Pixabay |
In fact some of the old world brick and mortar companies are receiving applications from their employees to let them work remotely, or else give them a sabbatical for a year. Though not all positions in a brick and mortar company are made for such luxuries, some of the modern work avenues such as, digital marketing, website design and development, content writing, social media marketing, photography etc can easily be carried out irrespective of the place of work, as long as they are connected through Internet.
Capitalizing on the trend several companies have come up providing co-living and co-working space to digital nomads and taking them out on a trip for long duration tours ranging from 6 months to a year.
Internet is truly redefining the way people are leading their lives and working. I don't want to hide my own aspiration to be digital nomad. I am fascinated by their lifestyle and spirit of adventure.
| image from pixabay |
Gone are the days when an offshore visit was a big deal. I remember while I was in school, one of my teachers went to the US for 10 days on some work assignment. When he was back, he was give continuous 7 days morning assembly slot to speak about his experience. He was almost a celebrity, not only among the students but among his peer groups, friends and family too. Everyone wanted to hear his experience.
Now even the students are going all over the world for Higher Studies. Institutions are financing the higher studies, scholarships are coming through and some of them even prefer to work part time along with studies to fund their university fee, boarding and lodging.
So, its a complete disruptive trend that we witness today. People are more mobile and the level of acceptance is going high. Digital nomads prefer a heterogeneous group, where people come from different countries, backgrounds and specializations, and they gel together, bond with each other, help each other.
Not that the quality of work is going down or work is suffering with this trend. In fact, what is palpable is just the opposite. With better exposure and sharing of knowledge and know-how quality of work is getting better.
Now the world and the humanity and the society is going through a total disruption, fueled by the Internet. This is a trend to watch out for! We are truly passing through an interesting times. Those who were born before 1980 are perhaps in a better position to appreciate the change.
