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More Americans are rethinking where and how they want to live. Some are heading to Southeast Asia. They're drawn in part by what they're seeing on social media sites like TikTok and YouTube. NPR's Windsor Johnston reports on what's behind the trend and what those videos leave out.
WINDSOR JOHNSTON, BYLINE: Just minutes from the beach in Da Nang, a coastal city in central Vietnam, 37-year-old Mia Moore works as a holistic nutritionist. She moved there earlier this year after leaving California.
MIA MOORE: When I was living in the Bay Area, every day, all day was consumed with how am I going to make more money? Here, in Vietnam, I don't have to constantly think like that.
JOHNSTON: In Vietnam, she says, her life is more affordable.
MOORE: People oftentimes try to say, oh, it's cheap here, but I don't like that because cheap infers that it's low quality when it's actually a really high quality of life. It's just less expensive.
JOHNSTON: Moore says routine medical care like going to the dentist can cost a fraction of what it does in the U.S. And she's not alone in making the move. Estimates based on United Nations data show the number of Americans living in Southeast Asia has grown from about 32,000 in 1990 to nearly 88,000 today, and those numbers are likely an undercount. Earlier this year, a Brookings Institution analysis suggested U.S. migration in 2025 may have turned negative, meaning more people are leaving than entering. Experts say that shift has been building for years.
BROOKE ERIN DUFFY: I think it is part of a broader trend and one that we have been seeing for some time - and in particular, the rise of digital nomadism.
JOHNSTON: Brooke Erin Duffy is a professor of communications at Cornell University.
DUFFY: More and more people are working remotely, especially since the pandemic. And so people are trying to find ways to integrate work into their lifestyle.
JOHNSTON: Duffy says social media has helped fuel that trend, especially on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, where creators document life overseas in real time. For many Americans, making the move work depends on earning in U.S. dollars. Many rely on remote jobs or savings, and long-term residency can be complicated. In Vietnam, some cycle through short-term visas, leaving and returning every few months. And there are other trade-offs when moving to Southeast Asia. For Chris Michaels, the move meant leaving behind a corporate career in Chicago and starting over in Thailand. He says the transition wasn't easy.
CHRIS MICHAELS: There were a couple of moments where I'd wake up at 2, 3 in the morning having mini panic attacks, thinking, what did I do? I can't believe I quit my job and now I'm 8,000 miles away from everybody I know.
JOHNSTON: Even now, he says there are limits.
MICHAELS: I'm a guest in this country, and I will always - in some regards, that's the only thing I will ever be.
JOHNSTON: Duffy says experiences like that often don't show up in the videos people see online.
DUFFY: The images that circulate about life or work that circulate online are always filtered through a glossy prism.
JOHNSTON: For Mia Moore, she's still getting to know Vietnam's culture and adjusting to life there. But she says the stress has lifted.
MOORE: My prime focus now is, how do I want my day to look?
JOHNSTON: Without the financial pressure, she says she has more control over her daily life. Windsor Johnston, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF RINI SONG, "SELFISH (FEAT. BEAM)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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