In a world of never-ending change, why would the way we work have to stay the same? COVID-19 has forced us to work from the confines of our own homes through the internet. This experience has led more people, and companies, to realize that most jobs could be done almost anywhere with an internet connection. Even with jobs resuming back in person, a growing number of people are looking to permanently transition to working remotely. This is leading to a growing number of people becoming “digital nomads” — people who travel the world and work from anywhere there’s internet. Pre-pandemic, the number of digital nomads was expected to grow to 1 billion worldwide by 2035. This could allow people to gain more control over their work life and give more people the ability to travel rather than be confined to one place just to survive. However, since many digital nomads travel to countries or regions that have a low cost of living, they could be hurting the local community and abusing their privilege.

Since the pandemic began, the interest in digital nomadism has been booming as more communities, companies and countries welcome and utilize the practice. While most digital nomads tend to work as freelancers, the pandemic has caused more conventional 9-to-5 workers to become digital nomads as well. As more companies are allowing their staff to work remotely indefinitely, the barriers to digital nomadism are decreasing. Rental programs like Airbnb are catering to digital nomads by incentivizing longer rental periods. In the first quarter of 2021, they reported having over double the long-term stays than the preceding year.

Some people argue the hype around digital nomadism is just a by-product of the pandemic, but the interest in digital nomadism has been subtly increasing long before the pandemic. A survey conducted in 2017 found that 43 percent of their sample size was already working remotely at least some of the time — a 4 percent increase from 2012. The pandemic did not create digital nomadism but exacerbated it. During the height of the pandemic, mid-2020, the amount of digital nomads in the United States grew from 7.3 million in 2019 to 10.9 million — an astounding 50 percent increase. This growing presence of digital nomads has caused countries to take notice. Countries have begun to introduce remote work visas to attract digital nomads to become part of their economy. However, not all countries accepted digital nomads out of choice. Some introduce remote work visas in an attempt to reduce tax evasion, and many times visa fraud, committed by digital nomads.

While digital nomadism could be a radical change in traditional work practices, the current state of most digital nomads seems to be derived from a place of privilege. It is important to realize that almost all digital nomads are from the Global North, which means they are most likely to have a widely accepted passport which would allow for easy access into a large number of countries. This is a privilege over half the world doesn’t have.

My exposure to the injustice from digital nomadism was a Twitter thread posted by a woman named Kristen Gray, an American woman who was trying to promote her nomadic lifestyle in Indonesia. Though Gray is a Black, lesbian woman, her nationality gives her privilege nevertheless. In her attempts to convince people, she spoke on the low cost of living, comparing her $1,300 Los Angeles studio apartment to her new “treehouse” apartment in Indonesia for $400. To most American citizens, that cost is a steal, but to the many mining and quarry workers in Indonesia, a $400 apartment is worth more than their average monthly wage of $365. If there was a large influx of foreign capital in Indonesia, it would boost real estate prices and make the cost of living for natives much higher. Worst of all, Gray had advocated for travel to Indonesia in the height of the pandemic, selling information and “direct links to [her] visa agents” in her e-book. After her Twitter thread blew up, Indonesian immigration officials were alerted to her activities in Bali, detaining and eventually deporting her in part for “distributing information that is considered to be unsettling to the public,” according to eyerys.com. It was alleged she had overstayed her travel visa and accumulated income in her time abroad. This is actually a rather common practice by most digital nomads to acquire income while avoiding taxes in their native country.

While the future for digital nomads is not determined, it is a collective effort to strike a balance in which people are able to restructure traditional work practices and stay mindful of natives of the areas we should to temporarily live in. Gray’s experience shows that if digital nomadism is left unaccountable, it could be abused by anyone. It’s important to be mindful and conscious of the foreigner privilege that people experience just due to their nationality. With self-awareness and more international guidelines, digital nomadism could be created to serve everyone. A digital nomad could easily be born with a laptop and Wi-Fi access, maybe even a hotspot. If done properly, and ethically, it would allow people to see more of the world we inhabit and immerse themselves in different cultures. The current work-life balance that the majority of the society is confined to is too demanding. We should have more freedom to choose should be where we can work from.

Akshay Ma Kumar is a senior majoring in economics.