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| Caribbean Property Magazine Home / October 2009 / 'Clews Views October 2009' | SEND THIS PAGE TO A FRIEND  |
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O C T O B E R
 2 0 0 9Issue 33
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FOLLOWING THAT CYBER DREAM
by Carter Clews When your heart gets restless, time to move along When your heart gets weary, time to sing a song The King of R&R This month, I want to make a slight departure from the usual Clews’ Views fare. Rather than take you to a spot on the map, I want to transport you to a state of mind. I want to take you on a quick journey through time and space to where I think you may end up tomorrow. And I want to encourage you to make your reservations today. The critics tell us that the sign of a great novel is that the entire theme is summed up in the first sentence. Hence, Moby Dick, the story of a wandering sailor, begins, “Call me Ishmael.” And A Tale of Two Cities famously begins, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times … it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ….” So, let me begin this little treatise thusly: With the advent of the Internet, the boundaries of time and space are about to be erased and the closest-knit communities will be based more on commonalities of interest than accidents of birth. Now, I know that’s pretty ponderous – especially for a column that is supposed to focus on living the good life at a great price somewhere south of the Rio Grande. So, let me simply sum it up with a few choice words from The King of R&R: “You gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead you.” And now, with the Internet – along with its companion piece cell phone – you can do it all at the push of a button and speed of light. In recent months, I have recommended to you such “faraway places with strange-sounding names as Castenango, Guatemala; Riohacha, Colombia; and, most recently, Mascahapa, Nicaragua.” Each is a beautiful village, which many would consider well out in the middle of nowhere. Each is charming, pristine, and well-priced. But, to some, all are isolated, remote, and too far away from family and friends. Well, let me suggest that in today’s cyber world, there is no “middle of nowhere.” There is no isolation. Remote is in the mind’s eye. And family and friends are as close as the keyboard. This first dawned on me a little over a year ago when I attended an Internet conference in New York City along with about 2,000 other web enthusiasts (most of whom were about a third my age). The speakers addressed every aspect of the Internet experience, from the latest high-tech developments to hands-on applications. And most of it, frankly, went right over my head. (When I was a kid, the most popular thing on TV was the test pattern, so I make no pretense of understanding the inner workings of the World Wide Web). What did capture my attention, however – and leave an indelible impression – was the unmistakable impression that the thousands of young co-attendees simply do not consider themselves earthbound Americans. Yes, they were still in the United States, but they were no longer of the United States. In fact, when political speakers from either end of the ideological spectrum came to the podium to vent their spleens, the young cyber citizens would either (1) leave the auditorium, (2) turn their full attention to their ever-present laptop computers, or (3) post Twitter entries on the big screens the conference hosts had placed behind the podiums, Tweeting about everything under the sun – except the topic the speaker was discussing. |
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The point is – and it has direct ramifications for your future – the deeper one enters the world of the web, the further one gets from world directly outside your door. Which, in turn, means that your door can now be pretty much wherever you want it – and you, and your world will revolve around your online community of family, friends, and like-minded confederates.
Now, let me reify that and tell you exactly what it can mean for you. Simply put, if and when you make your move to Castenango, Riohacha, Mascahapa, Mercedes (Uruguay), Corozal (Belize), Roatan Island (Honduras) – or any of the other locales I have written, or will write, about -- your life is likely to be just as full and far more enjoyable than it is wherever you are living at this very moment. And that’s largely because of the Internet. Think about it for a second: How often to you actually see your closest friends and family right now, up close and personal? How often do you actually go to the major sports events to watch your favorite team? How often do you thrill at the thought of climbing in the car and winding your way through backed-up traffic to go to work every morning? If your answers to the above were “Occasionally,” “Rarely,” and “Never,” it may be well nigh time to move offshore. With the Internet, you can communicate with your friends and family 24/7/365 instantaneously by email, IM, Twitter, your own blog, Facebook groups, and even YouTube. Throw in the cell phone, and you can not only talk to them live, you can send them photos of what you’re doing “right now,” and you can text them every time you have a salient thought. With the Internet, you can stay current on all of action from your favorite sports team. And very soon, you’ll be able to watch every play on your laptop computer. But, instead of sitting inside of your house gazing out the window at barren trees and icy sidewalks (all the while worrying about how you’ll pay your escalating heating costs), you’ll be in a tropical paradise enjoying the life of Riley with a twist of lime while your favorite team gets trounced by my Baltimore Ravens (sorry, couldn’t help myself). As to work, more and more Americans are already replacing commuting with computing – and it doesn’t really matter where you are computing from. According to a recent WorldatWork survey, more than 17 million employees performed work remotely at least one day per month in 2008. And according to FutureofWork.net, “That number is projected to increase to more than 25 million within five years.” In fact, FOW predicts that within 10 years, the footprint of centralized office space will be down by an astounding 75 percent. So, my advice is to beat the crowd and, if you possibly can, do it out now. If major automobile manufacturers can build cars from computer terminals far removed from the factory floor, chances are that whatever you’re doing can be done just as well (and far more enjoyably) from a beachfront condo at Belize’s Orchid Bay or Nicaragua’s Gran Pacifica. But, the fact is, I know that a lot of readers of this column don’t have to worry about work. You are either at retirement age, or very close to it. Right now in the United States, 78,000,000 Baby Boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 a day. According to a recent study by Ernst and Young, more than 50% of those retirees will not be able to afford to live on their retirement income. And that study came out before the government’s latest round of deficit spending sent the inflation rate spiraling to 7%. So, what’s a retiree to do? Well, let’s finish up where we started out: With the advent of the Internet, the boundaries of time and space are about to be erased and the closest-knit communities will be based more on commonalities of interest than accidents of birth. In short, if you can muster the $1,500 a month it costs to live a life of luxury in Latin America, join the Cyberworld Revolution, forget about the artificial confines of time and space, and move offshore. Buy a place on the beach at beautiful Keyhole Bay on pristine Roatan Island, and, trust me, you won’t have to worry about missing your friends and family – they’ll be the ones knocking at your door, beach blankets and snorkeling gear in hand. So when a dream is calling you There's just one thing that you can do You gotta follow that dream wherever that dream may lead. Believe me, as a World Wide ‘Webster,’ you won’t miss a thing. See you next month in Argentina. |
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AUTHOR : Carter L. Clews began his career in marketing as Director of Public Relations for the National Right to Work Committee in Washington, after which he became Director of Communications for the U.S. Senate Conference of the Majority. Following his years in Washington, Mr. Clews became Creative Director for Inphomation, Inc, the company responsible for several of the top infomercials in recent history, including Making Love Work, The Psychic Friends Network, and The Helicopter Lure. Mr. Clews has won numerous writing awards, including the Best Scriptwriter of the Year Award from the Electronic Retail Association. He now lives at Keyhole Bay on Roatan in the beautiful Bay Islands.
Email : Carter Clews
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