The Dark Side of Digital Nomading

It's Not All Sunshine and Cheap Food

Many people envy digital nomads. Nomads enjoy beautiful weather and delicious food while spending less on life by living from inexpensive tropical paradises. But this envy may be unfounded. Here are some downsides of nomadism.

Loneliness. You miss your old friends non-stop and can’t stop thinking about them. It’s an ache deep inside of you that usually flares when you’re uncomfortable in your new home. The first time I left Calgary, the loneliness lasted an entire month, but was cleansing and good. It makes you examine and reconsider all of your relationships. It also incentivizes you to flirt with strangers, make new friends, and meet new people at events like Mundo Lingo (highly recommend).

Isolation. If you were to drop dead, who would figure it out first, and after how long? Digital nomads often don’t have dependants nor are dependent on others. This is both freeing and isolating. Your life feels less meaningful if your absence is not noticed quickly. The antidote to isolation would be interpersonal responsibility. This could be caring for a child or spouse, or volunteering, or having an extremely important job.

Immense personality changes. One’s identity is socially negotiated with others, so if you stop spending time with others, you lose your identity. I used to think of myself as articulate and secure in my knowledge of the world because that’s what other people saw in me. But after 14 months of living in countries whose languages I don’t speak and whose histories I don’t know, I definitely don’t feel articulate and grounded anymore. Long-term travelling can lead to internal confusion and strife. All the digital nomads I’ve met were far from average in both directions. I’ve met the most disciplined, hard working, and friendly people of my life. I’ve also met the most anti-social, skeptical, and lost people. Without a constant and positive group of people around you, you can lose sense of who you are and, as a result, go crazy.

Stress from the language barrier. When you’re ordering a burger in Spanish at McDonalds in Buenos Aires but the cashier asks a question that you don’t understand, you will get stressed! You don’t want to look stupid or make a costly mistake. It takes immense mental energy to understand someone when you don’t recognize 30% - 80% of the words they use. My solution to this is to set expectations low and then work my way up. For example, when asking for help, I walk up to someone with my question typed into Google Translate. After they respond, I then attempt to speak the language. This way, they know to use simple words only. You can also put on a very strong American accent and purposely pronounce words incorrectly and slowly.

Healthcare scares. There’s usually both public and private healthcare wherever you go. It usually costs $50 - $100 to see a doctor, and then up to $300 to run diagnostic tests. But finding the right place is time consuming. You need to look at reviews on Google Maps from other foreigners like you, look at the prices, look at forums, message WhatsApp groups for gringos, and weigh all of the above while in pain. It has worked out cheaper for me to pay out of pocket than to pay for insurance, but accessing medical services can be stressful.

Missing home foods. Canadian cuisine is among the best in the world because Canada has imported the best cooks from around the world. It is sad when you are in Rio de Janeiro and there are no restaurants who sell butter chicken, or when you’re in Buenos Aires and crave Pad Thai but can’t eat it because no Thai people have ever moved to Argentina. You must instead make do with local food, and sometimes that can be quite boring.

Loss of native language skills. I’m not as fluent in English as I used to be. I use prepositions timidly now and find it hard to express complex thoughts. This is because I’ve been speaking broken Spanish and listening to broken English. The mistakes made by Spanish speakers who I talk with for whom English is a second language have become my own. Plus, when I speak Spanish, it’s broken and hobbled and thus makes me feel stupid, leading me to second guess myself in all the languages I speak. The fix for this would likely be to edit, write, read, and listen to more English content created by native speakers.

Missing home comforts. Some things you just can’t do anymore. I miss listening to music while going on runs. I miss reading a book on my iPad at night in the middle of a freshly trimmed soccer field after a hot summer day. In Latin America, displaying your wealth publicly signals to others that 1) you’re a foreigner, 2) you’re distracted, and 3) you’re wealthy. To avoid attracting robbers, it’s best to hide your valuables and pay attention while outside.