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170

Plays the victim and blames social media for lieing to it.

Plays the victim and blames social media for lieing to it.

(post is archived)

[–] 7 pts (edited )

The web page is burred blurred out when I click the link.

EDIT: Typo.

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Same here, I clicked reading view and it showed just text.

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I posted what it said in a comment

I got around it by going to the direct link instead of the archive, and by NoScripting Fortune.Com. Then I could read the article unblurred.

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...and by NoScripting Fortune.Com

I didn't think of that!

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I highlighted, copied, and pasted the blurred text:

Times like these made her feel like “the only person in the world,” she tells Fortune. Scott, 33 and based in Atlanta, pinpointed that night as the moment when she realized the glamorous van life advertised on social media was just “glorified homelessness.”

You don’t have to search far to see videos showing lifestyle content of families packing all their belongings into a van and hitting the road. Known as #vanlife across social media, the phrase has 13.9 million tags on Instagram and 10.7 billion views on TikTok. The alternative lifestyle became popular in the 2010s among millennials craving a nomadic adventure, and it accelerated during the pandemic as an option for remote workers and those seeking a more affordable alternative to buying or renting amid sky-high inflation.

Romanticized as a magical, simplistic way of life, it was enough to pull Scott in. A former pilot recruiter with a small business on the side, she often daydreamed about trying out the nomadic lifestyle after watching the #vanlife videos that littered her “for you” pages on YouTube and TikTok.

She finally took the plunge after receiving a notice last year that the rent on her one-bedroom apartment was increasing. She used her savings to buy a non-converted van (it wasn’t outfitted with carpeting and plumbing) for $5,000.

But Scott soon found that the reality of van life wasn’t all that sunny, and she began documenting how her idyllic lifestyle turned sour on the TikTok account , renaming her account this month to . Gas was high, it was lonely on the road, and the van often needed repairs, she said. It all put her on edge.

“Van life is harder than what it seems like in videos,” Scott says. “It’s harder than I would have ever thought, honestly.” Skip to main content 2959 158 6 Watch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTok Watch now

Things are looking up 🫶🏾 #nomadgonewrong #vanlife #homeless #nomad Emotional Piano Instrumental In E Minor - Tom Bailey Backing Tracks

Lifestyle content isn’t everything it seems to be when you’re actually living it Shortly after embarking on van life, Scott lost her pilot recruiter job during a round of layoffs, forcing her to rely on freelance work. An unstable income made living on the road that much harder.

Without a home base and with the prices of everyday goods rising as a result of inflation, Scott says she found herself spending more on gas and food as well as other expenses as she attempted to renovate the van to make it more habitable. She also had to pay for unexpected emergencies along the way, including a popped tire.

“If you do try to cut back on finances, you’re just eating junk,” Scott says, adding that #vanlife depictions don’t show the part where you’re living off food purchased from gas stations. She feels they tend to depict happy van lifers relaxing on their lawn chairs enjoying a grilled burger, but says no one talks about how hot it is or how you’re stuck inside the van if it’s raining. Nor do they show how van lifers shower or find bathrooms if they’re not in a converted van, she adds.

When the weather became too extreme or she didn’t feel safe at night, Scott began staying in Airbnbs. She realized that it would ultimately be too difficult to redo her van so it was livable, so she ended up selling it to buy another van that was easier to convert.

All the while, Scott was figuring it out alone, without a family support system to fall back on. Digital nomad or houseless?

Scott’s reality isn’t all that different from others who have tried to emulate the #vanlife content. Content creators Gene and Shay of , who live in a converted van, shared the downsides of the lifestyle in a video: endless repairs, and the need to shell out for a hotel when it’s too hot to sleep in a van. As puts it bluntly, “Van life influencer culture is full of sh––.”

Scott says creators reached out to her saying they’ve endured similar experiences. At the same time, her videos have critics who argue Scott made the wrong choice in embarking on the lifestyle in the first place. But she thinks people are resistant to the idea of this #vanlife fantasy being broken. The same type of person goes viral on social media and they show same type of glamorous narratives, adds Scott. She was showing everyday life. “But that’s something you don’t post because you’re just supposed to keep that a secret,” Scott explains. Skip to main content 38.6K 678 202 Watch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTok Watch now

She’s back 😜 now I have the energy and time. Please do your research and prepare well 🦋 #vanlife %•#vanlifeinfluencer original sound - Natasha 🦋 • Nomad Gone Right

Papering over the cracks can lead to misconceptions online. Social media is a highly personalized advertising tool that can be used to make younger audiences feel like they need to buy objects or a lifestyle. About 64% of social media users reported regretting an impulse purchase they made when seeing an advertisement, according to Bankrate. It’s not surprising people like Scott would be even more disappointed when they’ve sunk their savings into a lifestyle that doesn’t live up to the hype. When homeless people in Atlanta started asking Scott if she needed help, she began to question how she was being seen. “Outside of social media, no one saw it as van life—they saw it as homelessness,” she says.

Scott suggests that people do their research to prepare for van life instead of learning on their feet, and to trial it for three weeks because the “honeymoon stage” might be over by then.

Skip to main content 216.2K 1498 1084 Watch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTokWatch more exciting videos on TikTok Watch now

What can I say…. #nomad #vanlife #homeless #nomadgonewrong Sad Emotional Piano - DS Productions

Right now, she continues to post content that documents her experience, pushing back against the one-sided narrative she believes permeates TikTok. She’s given up van life, saying that she lost money from the whole venture in the end. She is currently living in a hostel, saving up for an apartment, looking to go back to school to major in a more stable field like UX design or tech, and trying to rebuild her life

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Hey , could you sticky this comment for clarity?

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Someone linked a non paywall link. Just link his. I just saw it

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Text is blurred out, but here is my assumption what's in there:

Nigger tries to do White people thing that requires minimal level of critical thinking -> Nigger fails miserably because she is a nigger -> "IZ OLL WHYPIPO'S FOLT!!!"

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I got you, brother. Check my comment

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A nigger fails at things that many white people succeed at? Nonsense. I lived in a van for three months on the west coast and each day was glorious. I didn’t work at the time but absolutely could now.

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I went on a two week road trip to check out Idaho. I got a bit lonely at times, mostly because my ex said she would go with me and then backed out. That was kinda the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. Good trip in general though.

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That’s a beautiful area. I did have my girlfriend (at the time) and my two dogs with me so that wasn’t a factor. I can see it being one though.

We decided after that trip that we were compatible and moved in together, then married a year after.

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I saw this after I posted the text wall. What website or extension are you using to remove paywalls?

Leave to a gullible neegress to not realize that "van life" is 95% trust fund babies being paid to do youtube vids for expensive tricked out vans and rvs. She'll find some black attorney that will see $$ signs in suing jewtube for her hurt black feefees. She'll make bank on this, people like this always do.

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Also known as:

Idiots who do not understand you need an AC Window Unit installed, a solar array on top of the van to frequently recharge your battery bank, and a place to eat.

AKA, not a van. You need a RC with some slight upgrades. Also known as "not cheap, you have to shell out some dough to make that work."

I do not understand how folks could miss the basics of this stuff. No kitchen? Then the only think you can eat are cold canned goods and other non-perishable processed foods.

They think they want to live as nomads. Really, what they want is a rent-free dwelling and a remote work job.

She certainly had money to pay for a phone, clothes, makeup, hair products, etc. She thought she could make it work with a shitty $5K van when what she wanted was a Recreational Vehicle.