You Can’t Label Life
December 6, 2017, By Ramy Al-Kadhi, Co-Founder of Calio
Social Media has made it very easy for people to assign labels to society. Step back and think about how many times you’ve described someone by their social media profile. Wouldn’t it be better if we described people by their personalities and energies, as opposed to their lifeless titles?
When thinking about labels, I like the example of wellness. The title ‘healer, life coach & spirituality guru’ is becoming prevalent on social media. In the past few weeks, I reached out to some friends in this space. I noticed they were very glued to social media and quite distracted in our interactions. It inspired me to write this article because labels are taking away from what matters the most; deep & meaningful connections with other people.
I believe the best antidote to zap people out of social passiveness is for them to spend more time with their friends, and less time with online ‘’friends’’. Often, we have more friends than we think they do. I’m also confident that it’s not as difficult to make new friends as people make out — there are many other like-minded people probably warped into this social problem. By friends, I don’t mean people you need to impress. Instead, I mean people that you feel relaxed and comfortable around.
Knowing yourself (away from the label) in this ever-changing fast-paced world, in a city like London for example, is important. Why does spending more time with friends help with this?
1. Having people around you who care about your well-being is good for your soul. Caring about them and showing it is also important; empathy is a wonderful human emotion.
2. Relationships help you grow. Those who care about you will point out things in your personality that help you know yourself better.
3. Beyond everything, life is about people. Having some quality company around you is a great and natural human state.
Calio is a new personal calendar app, that makes it easier to create events with friends and family. I co-founded it with my best friend. The fundamental drive behind our app is The Social Paradox; the technology meant to bring us closer to the people furthest away is, in fact, taking us further away from those closest.
Our aim is to build tech that helps you make the most of your time and spend quality time with people that matter. Technology is everywhere, but it doesn’t need to be a bad thing. If we use technology right, it allows us to be more efficient and more social — in real life.
Written by Ramy Al-Kadhi, Co-Founder of Calio
