Tech Is Helping Millions of People Work from the Woods
It’s the latest way the pandemic and Zoom are changing everything
It used to be that camping was about getting away from it all. Sitting by a campfire on a chilly night, you could disconnect from the modern world and bask in the majesty and solace of nature. Not anymore. The pandemic, Zoom, and remote work have completely changed camping. Almost a quarter of campers today are opting to bring their laptops into the wilderness so they can virtually commute to the office right from their campsite.
That’s according to a new report from The Dyrt, a camping app that helps people plan their trips and book campsites. The Dyrt’s data shows that since 2018, the number of people bringing a laptop along on their camping trip nearly tripled. As of 2021, 23.8% of campers said that they planned to use their devices (laptops, but also phones) to work from their campsite. That number was up 49% since the start of the pandemic. Because about 8.3 million people went camping for the first time in America in 2021, that means almost 2 million Americans spent some portion of last year working from the woods for the first time. It’s a trend that The Dyrt has dubbed WFC or Work from Camp.
Especially in industries like tech, remote work has opened up all kinds of possibilities for…
