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Digital nomads: freedom, responsibility and the neoliberal order

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  • Fabiola Mancinelli

    (University of Barcelona)

Abstract

Digital nomads are individuals who, taking advantage of portable computing technologies and widespread Internet access, can work remotely from any location and use this freedom to explore the world. Using ethnographic and netnographic research, this article outlines this recent phenomenon, framing it into the lens of lifestyle mobilities and individualization theories. It adds to existing research by focusing on the new set of responsibilities and commitments entailed by the individualization process. In research participants’ explanations, disengaging from sedentary life enabled them to express an ethos of freedom, in which minimalism, uncertainty and risk replace material accumulation, stability and comfort. It is important however to pay attention to the structural constraints within which their ethos of freedom operates. The aim of the article is twofold: on one hand, it contrasts digital nomads’ sociocultural imaginaries of (in)mobility with the specific economic strategies they use to sustain their continuous mobility, including geoarbitrage and the commodification of network capital. On the other, it provides fresh ethnographic evidence on how digital nomads’ self-realization project meets the ideology of entrepreneurialism, allowing them to take advantage of privileged nationalities to navigate the global inequalities of the capitalist system. The article argues that, rather than a challenge to the system, digital nomadism is an opportunistic adaptation to neoliberal impacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabiola Mancinelli, 0. "Digital nomads: freedom, responsibility and the neoliberal order," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:infott:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s40558-020-00174-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s40558-020-00174-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fran Martin, 2017. "Rethinking network capital: hospitality work and parallel trading among Chinese students in Melbourne," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(6), pages 890-907, November.
    2. Scott A. Cohen & Tara Duncan & Maria Thulemark, 2015. "Lifestyle Mobilities: The Crossroads of Travel, Leisure and Migration," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 155-172, April.
    3. Kannisto, Päivi, 2016. "Extreme mobilities: Challenging the concept of ‘travel’," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 220-233.
    4. Fleura Bardhi & Giana M. Eckhardt & Eric J. Arnould, 2012. "Liquid Relationship to Possessions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(3), pages 510-529.
    5. Robert Stebbins, 1997. "Lifestyle as a generic concept in ethnographic research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 347-360, November.
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    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. 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.
    3. Johanna Lilius & Dimitris Balampanidis, 2020. "“Live Like a Lifelong Tourist”? The Contradicting Realities of Finnish Offshore Service Workers in Athens," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(3), pages 177-188.

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