How not to leave America: a letter to we the very online people of the divided states
During the political theatre of TikTok's brief death and President Donald Trump's first days back in office, your American Abroad correspondent in London received a waterfall of texts from people back home who want out.
There are many insignificant irritations about life admin when you move away from America. Most you wouldn’t think of until you’re, say, figuring out how to get two-factor authentication codes via text to log into your U.S. bank app, which you desperately need to access. Or when you’re invariably forced to create a secondary iCloud account with the location set to your new country — and then forever logging in and out of both accounts to download and periodically update the apps you need from both regions. Because while you no longer live in America, America follows you everywhere.
These digital frustrations become silly metaphors for the immigrant experience itself — your identity fragmented across borders, your daily life a constant negotiation between here and there. Even your solidly international iPhone refuses to let you exist wholly in one place or another.
