citizen of the world (and the internet)

[This is day #21 of my 30-day microblogging challenge. You can and should still join!

When people ask me where I’m from, I sometimes mention that I consider myself a citizen of the world, or a citizen of the internet.

This might sound a bit weird or cringe, but what I mean is that I actually have much more in common with, say, a random Japanese person (or Sri Lankan, or Icelandic or whatever) who has spent a significant portion of their life on the internet compared to any random person from my own nationality. We would have way more shared context, at least if we’ve navigated somewhat tangential spaces.

Note: In my case, two other factors that might play a significant role here is having parents from two different nationalities (where neither ever fully clicked), and being “neurodivergent” (whatever that means). I notice that I don’t feel as strong of a resonance and feeling of connection towards my native culture, compared to to other people. This sentiment has been exacerbated by a few years of nomading. Nowadays when I visit my country, especially less globalized spots, things feel a bit alien for me. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I hope this microblog will help others in similar situations feel less alone!)