自由陷阱:数字游民和管理“工作—休闲”边界的纪律实践

The Freedom Trap:Digital Nomads and the Use of Disciplining Practices to Manage Work/Leisure Boundaries

大多数数字游民追求一种普遍的自由、自主和自决,想象着“超移动自由”以及工作和休闲融合的生活方式与未来。不过本文发现,在实践中,数字游民的工作和生活需要高度的纪律约束,包括外部纪律和自我纪律。一方面,数字游民需要比其他依赖特定地点的劳动者更加自律,甚至要比以往的自我更加自律。另一方面,他们还需要把自我纪律实践与外部规定的纪律相结合,后者由工作空间、基础设施、设备、时间规则、应用程序和流程规定和产生。由此可见,数字游民追求的自由,实际上是一种依靠高效的时间利用建立起来的特定类型的自由,即一种“有纪律的自由”。如果他们想要在工作和生活之间找到平衡,或者在日常生活中体验自我决定的控制和自由感,那就必须接受各种形式的纪律。数字游民可能最初试图实现一种主观的自由形式,成功地将工作、休闲和旅行融合在一起,但最后这种自由还是必须受到纪律的控制。

The majority of digital nomads pursue a symbolic or generalised feeling of freedom,autonomy and self-determination,envisioning a lifestyle and future framed by hypermobile freedom and where the tensions between work and leisure melt away.However,this article finds that in practice,the work and life of digital nomads require a high degree of disciplinary constraints,including external discipline and self-discipline.On the one hand,digital nomads need to be more disciplined than other location-dependent workers,and even more disciplined than their former location-dependent selves.On the other hand,they also need to combine the practice of self-discipline with externally imposed discipline,the latter being the product of workspaces,infrastructures,devices,time rules,applications and processes as dictated by them.It can be seen that the freedom pursued by digital nomads is actually a specific type of freedom that is tightly interrelated with efficient time use,namely“a kind of disciplined freedom.”Embracing discipline in its many forms is also a basic requirement if digital nomads wish to experience a work/life balance,or indeed any sense of self-determined control and freedom over their everyday lives.Digital nomads might start out attempting to achieve a subjective form of freedom that successfully blends work,leisure and travel;However,it must still be subject to the control of discipline.