Willemijn van Dolen | Those who live as digital nomads actually maintain a materialistic life
The life of a free, digital, non-materialistic nomad seems appealing, but it is anything but sustainable, writes Willemijn van Dolen. “I can see the benefits of owning little stuff and avoiding food waste but I had counted dozens of long-distance flights in the story.”
Not long ago, I was invited to a panel on minimalism and sustainability. It turned out to be a special evening. Minimalism is often seen as a life with few material things. And sustainability in this context was about the negative impact of consumption on the climate. The conclusion was easily made: a minimalist = few things = sustainable.
If only it were that simple. A fellow panelist spoke enthusiastically about his previous life as a digital nomad, someone who travels the world and can live with a small backpack with only the bare essentials, thanks to a laptop and phone, far away from the materialistic life that many of us live. A minimalist, in other words. It became a nice story full of tips about where and when to get the best free food, which restaurants threw away the best food, about hostels and couch surfing. The conclusion was that you avoid waste and save money this way, and you have the freedom...to fly all over the world. Minimalist, sustainable, AND freedom, who wouldn’t want this? For a moment I began to doubt myself...I was on a panel about sustainability, wasn’t I?
I remarked that I found it a fascinating story, attractive, too, but that I could imagine that this was not necessarily a sustainable lifestyle. I could see the benefits of owning little property and preventing food waste, but I had counted dozens of long-haul flights in the story. Keep in mind, this is something everyone should know for themselves, but the lifestyle of a digital nomad is not necessarily non-materialistic or sustainable.
In fact, I noted that there was a recent scientific article that showed that digital nomads can indeed be materialistic. First, they are often more concerned with the focused curation of stuff, preoccupied with consumption as a means to an end. This is also illustrated by Marie Kondo’s movement. When someone wants to own very few things, their value and meaning increase significantly, and acquiring stuff becomes a focused act of curation. It even becomes a means of signaling good taste and status.
Second, the article shows that people make all these trips precisely because it makes them happy, which is one aspect of materialism: Consumption makes you happy. So there is precisely a materialist preoccupation with achieving happiness through consumption, except that it relates primarily to experiential consumption rather than things. Wandering the world, then, is not an escape from materialism but a way to pursue materialistic goals such as cultivating one’s image and signaling status through travel. Experiences such as retreats or trips to lesser-known or hard-to-reach destinations that may indicate the achievement of important and admirable life goals (spiritual enlightenment, self-development, breaking out of the 9-to-5 routine) are favored for that purpose.
Now you might see the first point, more conscientious curation, as a way to use things more sustainably. But distant travel is often not that sustainable.
Well, back to the panel. My comment was not exactly enthusiastically received. Apparently, a digital nomad world traveler does not like to be associated with materialism and its less sustainable sides. As for digital nomads, there is nothing wrong with them, but I personally would not offer it as the solution to sustainability.
