Is the "digital nomad" dream just a fancy way of being broke abroad?

I’ve been following this sub for a while and watching a lot of YouTube channels about digital nomads in places like Bali, Chiang Mai, and Medellín. On the surface, it all looks amazing — laptops on the beach, smoothies for breakfast, cheap rent, flexible schedules.

But the more I dig into it, the more it seems like a lot of people are just scraping by.