Amplified selves, elusive collectives: the paradox of digital nomadism on TikTok

Abstract

Introduction: This study examines the construction of collective identity among digital nomads on TikTok, foregrounding how psychological needs from Maslow’s hierarchy are selectively projected through the platform’s affordances. Methods: The study deployed a mixed-method, longitudinal analysis of over 10,000 TikTok posts tagged with #digitalnomad from 2020 to early 2025. Results: Findings show that TikTok’s design prioritizes content optimizing for individual, aspirational self-presentation and peer resonance. As a consequence, digital nomad collective identity on the platform centers on entrepreneurialism and lifestyle optimization, increasingly favouring narratives of individual affordability, adaptability, and micro-achievement. TikTok’s algorithmic and memetic infrastructure systematically amplifies digital nomads’ content that addresses personal recognition and community engagement (social needs), shaped to be episodic, marketable, and non-threatening to existing labor structures, sidelining narratives of collective struggle and systemic challenge. This dynamic effectively produces a culture of celebrated resilience and individualized aspiration, creating a visible collective identity without the collective grievances or solidarities that underpin social mobilization. In our corpus, complex issues, such as legal rights or labor precarity, are marginalized by platform logics that favor memetic, digestible content, thereby inhibiting the formation of politically coherent movements. Conclusion: Ultimately, this research demonstrates that TikTok’s sociotechnical architecture channels the energies of digital nomads toward visible and episodic social and safety needs fulfillment, yet undermines the conditions for sustained collective mobilization. The platform transforms personal travelogues into aspirational mobility templates, mediating the tension between aspiration and precarity while highlighting a paradox: its capacity to build shared identity simultaneously constrains the potential for collective action.