The working landscape in Australia and around the world is experiencing profound change. As more and more jobs move into digital spaces, new opportunities are presented to a new era of worker unmoored from the office desk.
This has been realised in the form of the ‘digital nomad’, which describes the freelance or remote worker that works while travelling. Digital nomads are on the rise – but how, exactly? What are the mechanisms by which digital nomadism has become viable for a growing number of workers?
Faster Internet
One of the leading factors in enabling digital nomad culture to flourish is the internet. The internet is by no means new, and has been intrinsic to modern society for decades at this point. However, the technology underpinning it has improved significantly since it first became ubiquitous.
Today, internet speeds are much quicker across the board – and internet coverage is wider than ever. New satellite technologies have enabled strong wi-fi access in some of the world’s most remote areas, ensuring that travellers can access and use the internet practically wherever they go. This is instrumental in conducting business while on the move.
New Roles and Opportunities
The expansion of technology is also responsible for the growing availability of remote and digital roles and opportunities. Freelance workers have always been able to control their own workspace and workload, but now more than ever they can access a plurality of jobs and clients based anywhere, from anywhere.
Technological advancement has also seen disruptive products and platforms enter industries, creating new opportunities to engage with those industries. For example, retail trading platforms revolutionised access to and engagement with stock, asset and currency markets. Where trading was previously limited to a small subset of brokers and individuals, today a digital nomad can set up as a forex trader from their laptop wherever they are.
Even conventional business models are adapting, offering new remote-working roles that utilise new collaboration and communication platforms over office-based work. Through this, nomads can enjoy salaried work and the protections it brings while on the road.
Growing Communities
The digital nomad boom has not just arisen from sheer possibility, though. More and more people have become attracted to the idea thanks to the growing communities of digital nomads. Social media platforms and online forums have spawned groups and online communities, who share advice and experiences as well as encouragement.
With a growing, warm and welcoming set of online communities – which stand as evidence that digital nomadism can work – more people are seeing the possibility in their own life.
The Nomad Visa
While communities continue to grow around the concept of digital nomadism, so too do infrastructural means of support for digital nomads. Many countries around the world have recognised the unique economic opportunities that digital nomads represent, and begun to institute ‘digital nomad visas’ that remove legal and tax barriers to travel and work in said countries.
