Imagine working in a café in Barcelona, going to see Sagrada Familia after work, hopping on a plane, and eating croissants on a work break in front of the Eiffel Tower the next day. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
This is just one side of the reality of digital nomads—people who abandoned the routine to work remotely elsewhere, completely disconnected from the realities of their everyday life. While this is enticing for many, this lifestyle can bring challenges and unexpected situations and can even create problems for the local economies in popular digital nomad hubs.
In this article, we will let aside the perfectly looking lives of digital nomads on Instagram and give you a more realistic overview of what this way of life entails.
Who are digital nomads?
“Technology does not cause change, but it amplifies change. Early in the next millennium, it will deliver the capability to live and work on the move.”
This was what a Japanese author, Tsugio Makimoto, predicted in 1997 in his book Digital Nomad. And though that was the time of DVDs and CDs, with the advancement of technology, his estimates were correct. Similarly, Arthur C. Clarke’s work discussed nomads working from Bali in the 2010s.
The idea of working and enjoying Bali’s beaches at the same time attracted people even before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, after two years of lockdowns and on-and-off office work, the working environment has transformed into a more flexible one, allowing home office and even fully remote work. Since then, more and more people consider making money online and location-free. Mixing this trend with that of traveling, no wonder digital nomadism has become so popular.
To give you a few interesting statistics, there are currently around 50 million digital nomads worldwide. According to the Nomad platform, an average digital nomad is a 36-year-old man who works as a Software developer and stays for 5 months before moving to another place. According to Statista, the main nationality is American, and the top remote working city destination is Melbourne, Australia.
Work of digital nomads
But what do all those people do? As digital nomadism grows, so does the demand for professionals in marketing, IT, and other remote-friendly fields. Companies in online industries like e-commerce, SaaS, and even new online casinos are constantly hiring content creators, SEO specialists, developers, and other experts who can work from anywhere.
According to Flexjobs, you can find most remote work in the following fields:
- IT
- Project management
- Marketing
- Operations
- Customer Service
- Communications
- Accounting and Finance
- Sales
- Business Development
- Writing
Usually, digital nomads are freelancers, entrepreneurs, or people working remotely for companies. Many European countries as well as the US issue special digital nomad visa or remote work visa that allow people to work from anywhere.
Pros and cons
As we’ve said before, Instagram’s hype around digital nomadism doesn’t necessarily depict reality. But before sentencing or praising the lifestyle, let’s discuss both sides of the coin.
Pros of being a digital nomad
Obviously, the biggest advantage a digital nomad has over a regular office-based employee is the ability to travel. What’s more, depending on what their plans in a new destination are, they can organize their time as they want and work flexible hours. With so much flexibility, many admit they find the lifestyle liberating.
Secondly, many choose destinations where the cost of living is lower than in their home country, allowing them to keep their adventures low-cost and save money.
Working from different places opens opportunities for a large-scale network. Popular digital nomad destinations have coworking spaces, which function as open offices where everybody works on their own thing, and you never know who you may meet there.
Cons of being a digital nomad
While this can seem like a definition of freedom, with so much moving around comes the planning, which can be stressful and annoying after some time. You never know exactly what to expect when moving from one place to another. There are so many small things to figure out everywhere – what SIM card to buy, which grocery shop is the best, or even something as essential as where you’ll sleep.
They say certain places make you feel at home. While this is true, being away from family and friends for a long time can be challenging. Feelings of loneliness are what most nomads encounter along their remote journey, and learning to cope with them can take time.
These were some personal cons. However, from a broader point of view, digital nomadism can both positively and negatively impact the local community and economy of the place they stay in.
First of all, unlike tourists, nomads’ stay at one place usually extends the tourist season, and they take advantage of local cafés, restaurants, and coworking spaces regularly, contributing positively to the local economy.
On the other hand, in some destinations, digital nomadism contributes to gentrification and pricing out local people. In popular nomad hubs like Spain and Portugal, locals complain about the rising rental prices, leaving them without affordable housing.
In other places, for example Thailand or Bali, the commercialization is a problem, rupturing the traditional values, and seen as a possible threat to cultural heritage.
Future of digital nomadism
How about the future of digital nomads? Is this way of life sustainable in the long term?
For now, the trends are clear – digital nomadism has been growing exponentially since forever, and more so in the post-covid era. In 2023, there were 35 million people working as digital nomads. The number increased to 40 million in 2024 and continues to grow in 2025, with more than 50 million people attracted to the lifestyle. Ten years from now, there are 1 billion people estimated to work as digital nomads.
It seems like digital nomadism is a lifestyle that attracts many after all. In the future, the governments might need to work on more in-depth regularization and establish clear tax policies to adapt to current trends.
Digital nomads are people who love flexibility and are curious about the world. However, this lifestyle can be exhausting and does not necessarily suit everybody. Before leaving everything behind, one should not only get overly enthusiastic about what’s on Instagram, but consider all the stress, lack of stability that comes with it, and, of course, the impact on local communities.
