Digitalization: the difference between the ancestral heritage ‘nomadism’ and the technology-enabled lifestyle of freedom and adventure ‘digital nomadism’
Ágota PFENING, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
Melinda JÁSZBERÉNYI, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
These days, human mobility has already seen rapid growth due to numerous socio-political factors such as globalization, individualization, technological advancements. This global hypermobility (Adams, 2000) contributed to the creation of alternative lifestyle practices like digital nomadism, flashpacking, retirement migration, residential tourism which may collectively be framed as lifestyle mobility (Cohen et al. 2015). On account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the embrace of digital technologies accelerated inducing a further growth to remote and flexible working styles. In parallel, the pandemic also served as a period of reflection for many, reinforcing employees to reassess their options for a more purposeful, inclusive worklife, built for balance and well-being.
Accordingly, the recent cultural phenomenon of neo-nomadism, also considered as ideal type of post-identitarian mobility (D’Andrea, 2006), is growing in the literature, with a focus on digital nomadism. However, the theoretical framing of the term ‘digital nomadism’ is still emerging. Previously, the label ‘digital nomad’ has referred to the long-term travelers who leveraged the low-cost transportation and the expanding tourism market. Green (2020) defined in this category all those people who can avail digital technology to combine work, leisure and their hypermobile travel interests. However, the pandemic showed that mobility for digital nomads is more than just a spatial dislocation, it also composes economic aspects as well as cultural perspectives on self-identities. Digital nomads are not just tourists but individuals who are dissatisfied with the demanding work cultures. This study aims at the theoretical conceptualisation of digital nomadism by understanding this phenomenon from the different angles of anthropology, mobility, technology, tourism as well as its constructs as a cultural, social, economic phenomenon that is likely to grow once the pandemic subsides and safe travel resumes.
Mots clés : Digital nomadism|Hypermobility|Digital technology|Tourism|Identity
A104206AP