The last 200 years or so, most people’s home location has been determined by their job.
Because I have _____ job, and my employer is located in ______, I must live there.
Most people
Jobs are now much less location dependent.
I’ll admit this is usually available to those who exist in a business world where internet connectivity is required, and many people may feel this is available only to a “privileged few,” but you get to choose what you are trained in. So whether you accept it or not, you chose not to have a job with geographic freedom when you selected a major or chose not to go to university.
Regardless of whether you believe in consequences of agency, jobs are separating from employer location.
Which means those of us on the vanguard of realizing this face a choice previous generations have no experience with:
How do you choose where you want to live?
When an employer historically says “live here” you get in line. But that’s no longer as strict a requirement.
So what happens? Do we become digital nomads, moving from physical geography to another until we find something we like? Do we choose a place and stay? If there are minor scuffles with neighbors (likely to occur anywhere), do people become less resilient and pack up and leave?
What happens if you end up not liking the weather?
Does this cause more or less movement to cities? With our first move, we thought leaving the city would be ideal. Now we have a different opinion.
Obviously there are no real answers yet, and likely it’s different for everyone.
But it’s interesting to act totally outside a framework.