Comments on: Living a Completely Digital Life

By: A Life That Fits Into a Backpack | Gauravonomics Blog For Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Activists

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:54:13 +0000

[...] you’ll have to pursue and fulfill your dreams. Taken to the extreme, this may mean wanting to have a life that fits into a backpack, so that you are free to indulge your wanderlust, to travel the world in search of meaning, maybe [...]

By: Living Life in the ATM Mode | Gauravonomics Blog For Marketers, Entrepreneurs and Activists

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:09:55 +0000

[...] is a seductive idea. Different people use different terms for it — being a digital nomad, living a digital life or living in the ATM mode (via Steve Rubel and Web Worker Daily) – After Katrina I spent a [...]

By: Living Life in the ATM Mode | The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

Living Life in the ATM Mode | The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:42:29 +0000

[...] is a seductive idea. Different people use different terms for it — being a digital nomad, living a digital life or living in the ATM mode (via Steve Rubel and Web Worker Daily) — After Katrina I spent a [...]

By: A Life That Fits Into a Backpack | The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

A Life That Fits Into a Backpack | The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:34:42 +0000

By: Scott H Young » Work, Retire… Then You Die.

Scott H Young » Work, Retire… Then You Die. — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:00:14 +0000

[...] in my article about living a digital lifestyle, I talked about the benefits that could come from not being dependent on any location. You could [...]

By: Scott H Young » Finding Motivation for Improbable Goals

Scott H Young » Finding Motivation for Improbable Goals — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:01:33 +0000

[...] two previous articles, I wrote about my desire to live a completely digital life. A digital lifestyle is when [...]

By: Scott Young

Scott Young — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:45:34 +0000

Graham,

That’s excellent.

I also agree that complete detachment and non-location isn’t necessarily the best way to permanently live life. “Digital living” involves having this as an option, not a necessity.

I hope to live with fewer locations and chronic traveling in my 20′s, but I expect I’ll probably find a more permanent location when I want to have a family.

-Scott

By: graham

graham — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:24:59 +0000

I fit my life into a backpack and lived on less than $10,000 (including several international flights) for a year. Now I have an apartment filled with “stuff”.

Difference?

-Mobilized, minimalistic living is very liberating. You can experience the breadth of life. However, being transient and unrooted also has psychological impact. It can be difficult to build and maintain deep relationships, especially with family or old friends. It can also be difficult to make professional headway. You meet a lot of people, see a ton of things, and experience much of what life has to offer – but eventually, it can reach a point where it becomes self-limiting.

-Stabilized, established living is very empowering. You can experience the depth of life. Owning stuff may breed a certain level of entrapment and “obsession”, but having roots also allows you to build status and connections that are generally impossible if you keep moving around and effectively “starting over”. You may get too busy to do everything, but if you focus on what counts, this lifestyle becomes very rewarding.

Like Aaraon above, I too used to buy wholly into the “stuff is evil” attitude of youth. Now, having hit the wall on the transient lifestyle, I see the value of developing roots and surrounding yourself with the people and things that contribute positively to your chosen lifestyle.

Perhaps the best strategy to is live light and travel while you’re young and unattached, so you can appreciate the true value of a mate and house in the ‘burbs once you’re ready for them.

By: Scott Young

Scott Young — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:03:31 +0000

Thor,

That’s alarming. I’ve never had a problem connecting to this website. And traffic has been relatively stable over the last few months, so there shouldn’t be any server problems.

Can you let me know what times you’ve tried to connect to the website and where? I’m not sure what I can do, but I’ll try.

-Scott

By: Robin

Robin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:54:20 +0000

You might be able to come a lot closer to a digital life if you’re a student. I’m not sure about the education system in other countries, but in Sweden you can study pretty much anything you want as distance courses (for free) that you do entirely over the Internet. You can take most degrees without being enrolled in program (I do like this).

As a member of an international student organization i find I have even more opportunities: i could work abroad in chapters in different countries and also facilitate conferences (and then get inexpensive or free lodging).

I’ve had this opportunity without realizing it, so big thanks for making me think of it Scott!

Another thought for the lifestyle you describe: knowing languages can be very beneficial. Chinese, Russian, Spanish, German or whatever depending on where you plan to travel. Being in a country where most don’t know a word of English can make you very dependent.