IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/infott/v22y2020i3d10.1007_s40558-020-00172-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The freedom trap: digital nomads and the use of disciplining practices to manage work/leisure boundaries

Author

Listed:
  • Dave Cook

    (University College London)

Abstract

The digital nomad idea of freedom is often a generalised and subjective notion of freedom that imagines a lifestyle and future where the tensions between work and leisure melt away. This paper finds that in practice, digital nomadism is not always experienced as autonomous and free but is a way of living that requires high levels of discipline and self-discipline. The research suggests that digital nomads often overlook the role of disciplining practices when first starting out, and do not foresee how working in sites of leisure and tourism might make managing a balance between work and non-work problematic. Longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork examines the extent of these disciplining practices and reveals that they are utilised to keep work and leisure time separate.

Suggested Citation

  • Dave Cook, 2020. "The freedom trap: digital nomads and the use of disciplining practices to manage work/leisure boundaries," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 355-390, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:infott:v:22:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s40558-020-00172-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s40558-020-00172-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40558-020-00172-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40558-020-00172-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harvey, David, 2007. "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283279.
    2. Michael Rosen, 1988. "You Asked For It: Christmas At The Bosses' Expense[1]," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(5), pages 463-480, September.
    3. Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi & Gabriela Philips & Will Sutherland & Steve Sawyer & Ingrid Erickson, 2019. "Personalization of knowledge, personal knowledge ecology, and digital nomadism," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 70(4), pages 313-324, April.
    4. Melissa Mazmanian & Wanda J. Orlikowski & JoAnne Yates, 2013. "The Autonomy Paradox: The Implications of Mobile Email Devices for Knowledge Professionals," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(5), pages 1337-1357, October.
    5. Thomas Darley & Claire Lambert & Maria Ryan, 2017. "Grey Nomads’ caravanning use of social networking sites," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 379-398, December.
    6. Katharina Manderscheid, 2014. "Criticising the Solitary Mobile Subject: Researching Relational Mobilities and Reflecting on Mobile Methods," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 188-219, May.
    7. Gershon, Ilana, 2017. "Down and Out in the New Economy," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226452142, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Inge Hermann & Cody Morris Paris, 2020. "Digital Nomadism: the nexus of remote working and travel mobility," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 329-334, September.
    2. Aisha Sobey, 2023. "Obliged smart freedom: The Singaporean experience of advanced neoliberal-developmental governance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(16), pages 3336-3352, December.
    3. Viorica Mirela Stefan-Duicu & Mihaela Sudacevschi, 2023. "Placement of the Professional Judgment in the Current Remote Working Environment," Global Economic Observer, "Nicolae Titulescu" University of Bucharest, Faculty of Economic Sciences;Institute for World Economy of the Romanian Academy, vol. 11(1), pages 126-132, May.
    4. Ulrike Gretzel & Matthias Fuchs & Rodolfo Baggio & Wolfram Hoepken & Rob Law & Julia Neidhardt & Juho Pesonen & Markus Zanker & Zheng Xiang, 2020. "e-Tourism beyond COVID-19: a call for transformative research," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 187-203, June.
    5. Juan Parreño-Castellano & Josefina Domínguez-Mujica & Claudio Moreno-Medina, 2022. "Reflections on Digital Nomadism in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Effect of Policy and Place," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Lacárcel, Francisco Javier S. & Huete, Raquel & Zerva, Konstantina, 2024. "Decoding digital nomad destination decisions through user-generated content," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    7. Linao, Patricia Aida & Heimtun, Bente & Morgan, Nigel, 2024. "Digital nomadism, gender and racial power relations," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    8. Claire Estagnasié, 2023. "‘Working the time’: Time self-management practices of remote workers," Post-Print hal-04450916, HAL.
    9. Miao, Li & Yang, Fiona X. & Im, Jinyoung & Zhang, Qiao, 2024. "Flexwork and flextravel," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Bednorz, Jan, 2024. "Working from anywhere? Work from here! Approaches to attract digital nomads," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Howard Stein, 2012. "The Neoliberal Policy Paradigm and the Great Recession," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 59(4), pages 421-440, September.
    2. Jamie Redman, 2020. "The Benefit Sanction: A Correctional Device or a Weapon of Disgust?," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(1), pages 84-100, March.
    3. Luis Camarero & Renato Miguel Carmo & Sofía Santos, 2020. "Condiciones ambientales y diferenciación social en los patrones de movilidad: el caso de las desigualdades de género en el Área Metropolitana de Lisboa," Revista de Estudios Regionales, Universidades Públicas de Andalucía, vol. 0(y), pages 145-172.
    4. Steffen Dalsgaard, 2022. "Can IT Resolve the Climate Crisis? Sketching the Role of an Anthropology of Digital Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Grzegorz W. Kolodko, 2009. "A Two-thirds Rate of Success: Polish Transformation and Economic Development, 1989-2008," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2009-14, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Andrew Crookston, 2012. "Thomas J. Bassett and Alex Winter-Nelson: The atlas of world hunger," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 29(2), pages 277-278, June.
    7. Viktoria Maria Baumeister & Leonie Petra Kuen & Maike Bruckes & Gerhard Schewe, 2021. "The Relationship of Work-Related ICT Use With Well-being, Incorporating the Role of Resources and Demands: A Meta-Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    8. Cohen, Joseph N, 2010. "Neoliberalism’s relationship with economic growth in the developing world: Was it the power of the market or the resolution of financial crisis?," MPRA Paper 24527, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Yang Shen, 2015. "Why Does the Government Fail to Improve the Living Conditions of Migrant Workers in Shanghai? Reflections on the Policies and the Implementations of Public Rental Housing under Neoliberalism," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 58-74, January.
    10. Magdalena Correo Henao & Daniela Amaya Castro & Mario Andrés Ospina Ramírez & Federico Suárez Ricaurte, 2021. "Pobreza y desigualdad prospectiva 2030. XXI jornadas de derecho constitucional constitucionalismo en ransformación. Prospectiva 2030," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1298, October.
    11. Blocker, Christopher P. & Ruth, Julie A. & Sridharan, Srinivas & Beckwith, Colin & Ekici, Ahmet & Goudie-Hutton, Martina & Rosa, José Antonio & Saatcioglu, Bige & Talukdar, Debabrata & Trujillo, Carlo, 2013. "Understanding poverty and promoting poverty alleviation through transformative consumer research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1195-1202.
    12. Lise Arena & Leonard Minkes, 2019. "The virtues of dialogue between academics and businessmen," Post-Print hal-01620574, HAL.
    13. Angela Garcia Calvo & Martin Kenney & John Zysman, 2023. "Understanding work in the online platform economy: the narrow, the broad, and the systemic perspectives," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 32(4), pages 795-814.
    14. Baum, Fran & Ziersch, Anna & Freeman, Toby & Javanparast, Sara & Henderson, Julie & Mackean, Tamara, 2020. "Strife of Interests: Constraints on integrated and co-ordinated comprehensive PHC in Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    15. Diana Floegel & Kaitlin L. Costello, 2022. "Methods for a feminist technoscience of information practice: Design justice and speculative futurities," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(4), pages 625-634, April.
    16. Sean Brayton, 2012. "Working Stiff(s) on Reality Television during the Great Recession," Societies, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-17, October.
    17. Wilkinson, Michael & Lokdam, Hjalte, 2018. "Law and political economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87544, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Ravenscroft, Sue & Williams, Paul F., 2009. "Making imaginary worlds real: The case of expensing employee stock options," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 770-786, August.
    19. Lucy Burke, 2017. "Imagining a future without dementia: fictions of regeneration and the crises of work and sustainability," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Yi Sun & Shihui Li & Lingling Yu, 2022. "The dark sides of AI personal assistant: effects of service failure on user continuance intention," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(1), pages 17-39, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:infott:v:22:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s40558-020-00172-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.