A day in the life of a social geek

5 AM and the alarm goes off.
I cast about for the phone and command it to snooze, and it replies in an even tone, "Your first snooze this morning has commenced. I will attempt to wake you up again in 9 minutes". Mercy, I think, and go back to sleep.
Ever wondered why sleep comes within seconds in the morning, while in the night it takes forever? I can never 'fall off' to sleep at bedtime, but in the morning I can be falling off any number of times - just like that, close my eyes, and out! I even manage to dream a fully comprehensive dream in nine minutes. This must be another freak law of nature.

5:09 AM and the alarm is ringing again.
I hear, I sense, I do a quick scan of my mental, emotional and physical state, and decide I am not there yet. Snooze once more. "Your second snooze this morning has commenced. I will attempt to wake you up again in 9 minutes. You have lost 10 points in the Morning Alacrity Race", recites my phone. Ouch! That hurts. But not so much because I am asleep again.
Meanwhile my traitor phone has logged my snooze score to the Morning Alacrity Race apps. This score is then compared with the scores of other MAR users on the planet, and the points I lose are determined on the basis of the which percentile of snoozers I happen to fall into that morning. It's an unfair system - the Japanese almost always go scot free.

5:18 AM and it's the wretched alarm!
I resign myself to my fate, and I switch off the alarm. My phone responds, "Good morning and have a nice day!".
At this point, every day I hate MAR and I hate my phone for its super-efficient-but-loaded-with-sarcasm attitude. But a few hours later when I walk into work at 8:00 AM sharp, I will be feeling on top of the world for being on time and fully equipped to start my day. Then, I will say a little prayer to thank the human race for this innovation that gets me out of bed without snoozing away for hours. Believe me and I do not exaggerate, I have snoozed up to 11 times when left to my own devices (literally)!

Okay, it's 5:30 AM and I am on the wii yoga mat. My virtual yoga group, Yoga Wire, has decided that today we will all do 108 Surya Namaskars. Insane, if you ask me, (actually you did ask me, and back then I thought it was a splendid idea!) but if I don't go along then I lose 250 YW points. I have gained 350 so far after a lot of yoga, and I have been trying to save up to buy the new CD available on the website. It costs 500 points :(

Besides, me and my yoga group want to do this. There's something about being part of a big social community, it wires me up to do more and to share more. Like FB. I have been doing yoga for a decade, but after joining YW, I feel like I am sprinting ahead in evolution.

Apart from the personal (or maybe it's social) aspiration, there is another motive. Yoga Wire has been gaining momentum, and it's on the verge of establishing itself as the most motivational yoga group in the world. To date, thousands of people have joined Yoga Wire, and enrolled in the program which is the most appropriate for them. Statistics reveal that within 12 weeks, 58% move on to next level. 19% stay in the same level. The drop out rate is only 23%, which is the lowest among all other online yoga communities. The health benefits are measured as well, and the figures are just as impressive. Ya di da di da.. I could go on about the benefits of yoga, but then that's not what this post is about.

What I am writing about here is a world where human potential is enabled as never before.

If I had to single out one breakthrough that social media technology will achieve, it will be this. It can bring about a global movement of higher achievement. Humans aiming higher and achieving more as they aspire towards common goals; goals they set for themselves, but achieve by drawing on the power of a community.

A day in the life of a social geek is not utopian and it's not out there somewhere on planet Pandora in the year 2154 - it is now and here, within reach.

P.S. - I may or may not relate how the rest of the day goes. It will depend entirely on how hard I need to try before I manage to drive the point home.

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