Quality or Quantity. Width or depth. Less or more.
We live in the age of social media and internet where everything seems to be driven by numbers. Your popularity and admiration is judged more by the number of connects and followers you have on social media than what you have contributed or what is being contributed meaningfully.
I am also a victim to the numbers disease. Adding as many likes, connects and followers as I can to my various social media accounts. Do I believe in this? Absolutely no. But still I did it, swayed by what was said and read. With reluctance. Without conviction. I also started receiving messages from unknown people asking me to evaluate or score their performance. In fact one such connect from my group called me and asked me for a commission to network through his thousands of connects. This so called professional connect did not even know me or had never spoken a word with me. It’s then that I realised the futility of simply connecting or networking just for numbers.
Personally I have always believed in having few friends but growing the relationships over time, spending time with them, meeting and sharing, to contribute and get their contributions meaningfully. That is why they are called friends. I can say with pride that I have several friendships nurtured over decades and almost all these friendships have stood the test of time. Quality over quantity. There is a difference between a friend and an acquaintance. I do have many acquaintances but have few friends. I am part of several groups because of my interests, hobbies, profession and the like but I cannot claim that every member of each of these groups is my friend. Every relationship has to be nurtured, consciously, over time… It’s genuine care, love and deep commitment.
Am happy to share the link to an article that I found interesting and related to the subject:
