5 ms·

There is no such thing as a digital nomad. There are only economic migrants of varying skin tone.

SamBam 3y ago
I think there's a distinction. The term came from those who were deliberately avoiding rootedness, and trying to follow a path that (depending on the person) might ideally involve working from a beach one month and a rain forest another. As the article describes, this choice may be becoming less of a "choice" than a necessity, and in that case we probably shouldn't refer to them as digital nomads. But it doesn't mean that vision doesn't exist for some people.
rimeice 3y ago
I think “digital nomad” tends to refer to remote workers (often working with companies based in their home country) who travel around, “economic migrant” refers to workers moving to a country where there are better job opportunities, specifically to find work at a company based in that country. Less to do with skin tone.
- chgs 3y ago
  Yes. If you move to Germany and draw a salary from a US client you’re a “nomad” If you live to Germany and draw a salary from a German company you are an immigrant
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    What happens if you move to Germany and draw a salary from a German company for 3 months, then repeat for France, Portugal and Finland? Nomad or immigrant?
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
rfrey 3y ago
An economic migrant changes locale to find work. A digital nomad has work but conducts it from various places, not just the locale if the business. It's not just a racist term, they're different.
- hombre_fatal 3y ago
  I ran into this while living in Mexico, mostly from other cocksure expats. "Um, you're not an expat, you're an immigrant. Don't use the word expat, it just means white immigrant." As if my circumstance living a 10 year long extended vacation in Mexico, able to ripcord my life back into the US at any point + paid in USD, is in any way the same as a Mexican trying to immigrate to the US.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - gottorf 3y ago
    > Don't use the word expat, it just means white immigrant. This always was such a silly argument. "Expat" means someone in a well-compensated position living in a different country, usually sent by a multinational corporation, who expects to move back to their country of origin once their term is over. "Immigrant" means someone who expects to settle in their new country permanently. Usually the latter group is not paid as well as the former, due to the incentives involved; for the most part, well-paid people living in places that are good to live in don't want to relocate themselves permanently elsewhere.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    Yeah, I think about this quite a lot. After 35 years in the USA, with lots of "discussion" about immigration, its very clear to me that my experience as a white literally-Anglo male software developer immigrant has almost nothing to do with what people are talking about when they talk about "being an immigrant" in the USA. Seems like it would be useful to differentiate the parts that all immigrants have in common from those that we don't, but this appears to just come down to racism, so we generally don't.
  - deleted 3y ago

I think there's a distinction. The term came from those who were deliberately avoiding rootedness, and trying to follow a path that (depending on the person) might ideally involve working from a beach one month and a rain forest another. As the article describes, this choice may be becoming less of a "choice" than a necessity, and in that case we probably shouldn't refer to them as digital nomads. But it doesn't mean that vision doesn't exist for some people.

rimeice 3y ago

I think “digital nomad” tends to refer to remote workers (often working with companies based in their home country) who travel around, “economic migrant” refers to workers moving to a country where there are better job opportunities, specifically to find work at a company based in that country. Less to do with skin tone.

chgs 3y ago
Yes. If you move to Germany and draw a salary from a US client you’re a “nomad” If you live to Germany and draw a salary from a German company you are an immigrant
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  What happens if you move to Germany and draw a salary from a German company for 3 months, then repeat for France, Portugal and Finland? Nomad or immigrant?
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

rfrey 3y ago

An economic migrant changes locale to find work. A digital nomad has work but conducts it from various places, not just the locale if the business. It's not just a racist term, they're different.

hombre_fatal 3y ago
I ran into this while living in Mexico, mostly from other cocksure expats. "Um, you're not an expat, you're an immigrant. Don't use the word expat, it just means white immigrant." As if my circumstance living a 10 year long extended vacation in Mexico, able to ripcord my life back into the US at any point + paid in USD, is in any way the same as a Mexican trying to immigrate to the US.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- gottorf 3y ago
  > Don't use the word expat, it just means white immigrant. This always was such a silly argument. "Expat" means someone in a well-compensated position living in a different country, usually sent by a multinational corporation, who expects to move back to their country of origin once their term is over. "Immigrant" means someone who expects to settle in their new country permanently. Usually the latter group is not paid as well as the former, due to the incentives involved; for the most part, well-paid people living in places that are good to live in don't want to relocate themselves permanently elsewhere.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  Yeah, I think about this quite a lot. After 35 years in the USA, with lots of "discussion" about immigration, its very clear to me that my experience as a white literally-Anglo male software developer immigrant has almost nothing to do with what people are talking about when they talk about "being an immigrant" in the USA. Seems like it would be useful to differentiate the parts that all immigrants have in common from those that we don't, but this appears to just come down to racism, so we generally don't.
- deleted 3y ago