Social Networks. Let your clock tick for you! (Part-I)

"be the change you want to see in the world" --  Mahatma Gandhi

These are the words which influenced my thoughts, life's priorities and most importantly, my journey all along. As someone said, generations have marched forward to make this day a reality -- we live in the world where everything is digital and always connected. Social networks measure our true value. Smartness is everywhere. We're surrounded by it. Submerged in it. Selfies come first before those lost warm hugs. This is real world. Whether you like or dis-like! Good or bad -- doesn't matter for the most part. Some feel this is totally obnoxious. For the rest, this is the way of living.

I have to admit. I was part of it for a very very long time. Lived through it. Being a common man, I was going with the flow.

Not so long ago, a magical day came by. That day, I truly found a lost person within me. This post is all about my journey in and out of that world, rather a fake one! A journey where life is lost somewhere, to someone...

Lost -and- Found

There was a time when I was completely covered by digital worms. I took no shame in killing my time—all the time. I scrolled through worlds #1 social network over and over, checked friends profiles, even friends of friends profiles, liked something — all for no reason. Worst part, spamming my friends and family along the way. My frequent phone calls to friends, even to family members, were replaced by digital mimis. I stayed up-to-date as much as I can till that fine day.

On a whim, I un-plugged myself from this digital world for a day. While the left brain was hard at work navigating me in-and-around the lake, the right one was silently sailing through ocean full of thoughts.

In retrospect, all of my social life seemed silly. It was crystal clear -- social networks are not real. They've built a fake world around me and you. Most dangerous part is, they are contagious. When this very realization hit me--hard I guess, it reminded a moment from my past when I quit smoking. Smoking does much more harm than good(if at all)! I view social networks the same way. I would never go back to them with same attitude.

Golden words uttered by my grandmaa in my schools days are filling my ears. "you realize it's value when you don't have it anymore". To me it was obvious, TIME. Time is irreplaceable. No one can re-live this life...

After this whole saga of social life, I sat down and questioned myself - why did I started that journey after all? wasting ton of time throughout(I later realized my time was filling someone else’s deep pockets). Well, it all came down to me. I have no one to blame except me & myself. Like you, I was pulled into it by forces around me. My friends were on it. Everybody I knew were on it. So, I jumped right-in.

Why did I jump so quickly? well, I was sincerely looking for ways to lead better life. Living with a satisfaction. Living with connectedness. Taking control of life. Not the other-way around!

Taking Action

After that free fall, my social needs were cut down to just 3 simple things: Satisfaction - Connectedness - Better Life. That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less. These are going to help me lead a fulfilling life.

When I looked at popular social networks out there, almost all of them appeared to me like time stealers - they are powerful machines designed to steal my time without me realizing at best! And I am not going to fall pray to them once again. So my search continued. After an exhaustive search, it finally came to a dead end! Nothing out there!!!

Being a firm believer in Gandhism, I started taking my first steps into creating such platform with my same bold vision: Satisfaction - Connectedness - Better Life. From day one, it was all about improving people's lives. No friends, no poking one another. I called it, The SamePinch. Made it available in all forms - Android/iOS Mobile Apps and Website. 

Take part in defining future of the platform...come join us today. May be find a lost person within you! 

[cont'd in PART II]