Why this Dubai CEO chooses to stay off social media

Gulf News

Dubai-based Punit MK Vasu perhaps needs no introduction. CEO of the Indian High Group of Schools, he is a prominent educator and third-generation Indian expat in the UAE. He is an alumni of the University of Connecticut in the US and University of Bradford in the UK and has served as finance director at the London School of Economics. Understandably, the 43 year old has a huge circle of business contacts, family and friends.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/uae/people/why-this-dubai-ceo-is-not-on-whatsapp-other-social-media-1.98898012  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #Dubai #socialmedia

Transcript

00:00I think we need to take a deeper look at what it means to truly connect in a personal sense.

00:10So I think it is definitely very very interesting being part of a journey in terms of using your

00:16phone and not being on WhatsApp. We need to look at the deeper meaning of what is the purpose

00:23in which we use our phone and the platforms that are associated with communication. So

00:30your phone is merely a device and platforms like WhatsApp are meant for communicating.

00:37But I think we need to take a deeper look at what it means to truly connect in a personal sense.

00:44Is it challenging and not being on WhatsApp? Yeah, it definitely is in terms of being able

00:50to communicate with a wider audience. We have a lot of stakeholders, a lot of parents,

00:56a lot of colleagues whom I work with together. I won't say it's easy but I think I use that as

01:02an opportunity to see this phone as just a tool and look at other opportunities in which

01:10I can connect with people. So at our group of schools I have the privilege of being able to

01:17interact with the students face to face. We have plenty of town hall meetings with colleagues,

01:22teaching and non-teaching staff. We have open sessions and many other interactive discussions.

01:29I find WhatsApp extremely overwhelming and I did use it once upon a time. Like everybody else it

01:36was very tempting to be able to access a platform that allows you to communicate for free to such a

01:43large audience. It's extremely convenient and I've got nothing against people who use it but like I

01:48said I find it very overwhelming and I also found that I was taking control

01:55of things in my life. There's a very very fine line between chat and chatter. Connecting and

02:03actually clutter. So we all are looking at ways to declutter. Do I suffer from FOMO? The fear of

02:10missing out? No. In fact I think my wife and I have coined the term and she takes full credit

02:15for it. She has coined it JOMO, the joy of missing out. So look I definitely get to know

02:21of all the important things and happenings. There are different ways to keep yourself up to date

02:26in terms of what is happening in the world and with various press events and your loved ones

02:32definitely will keep you abreast with major important events and happenings. But this also

02:39means that I take the time out from my schedule to make sure that I actually pick up the phone

02:45and talk to people. Sometimes it's funny I have to tell people that there is a way of communicating

02:50which is talking on the phone or texting the old-fashioned way. I bring the smile on my face

02:56when I'm trying to share a location with a courier company or a vendor and they're like can you just

03:01whatsapp us the location and I'm like yeah I'll text it to you. They're like no you can just

03:05whatsapp it to us. I'm like well I don't use whatsapp and there's typically a bemused almost

03:10puzzled look that really I mean can somebody not use whatsapp and I'm like yeah I'll text it to you

03:16and you'll still be able to open the location using a conventional text. My family does

03:23enjoy moments where I'm not on whatsapp and certain things that they don't want me to know

03:29are shared on whatsapp and you know I may miss out on those but I think there's a deeper purpose

03:36for the human existence which is we can truly connect to the heart, truly connect to the soul

03:42and I think I take that opportunity to reach out to people. There is a downside in terms of not

03:47being able to be on whatsapp or choosing not to be on whatsapp is I do receive a lot of emails

03:54almost 200 to 250 emails in a day. I personally check all my emails. They're not checked by any

03:59member of my team so I do take time to check my email. So again I think that's also an advantage

04:05because that mean of communication is documented and that is something which I can then hand over

04:12and that's in the public domain in terms of being an official means of communication. Again whatsapp

04:17or other means and platforms of communication are not official and they typically tend to be

04:24encrypted between the sender and the recipient whereas something like an official email which

04:29is on an email server can be accessed long after I am no longer in this role or long after

04:36for the sake of documentation. So we all know there was a world that existed where we all

04:42communicated and loved each other and generations before us have definitely connected without

04:48whatsapp. I think I'm definitely of the opinion that's been working for me. It's something where

04:54I don't think has been negative or a disadvantage to me and I'm hoping to carry on this way and

05:04seeing where this journey takes me. It's important to have an open mind and not be too closed in

05:12whether you want to use a platform or a particular media and there are plenty of other options

05:18available. I'm not on any social media. I don't use whatsapp, instagram, twitter or now what is

05:25xflap. I'm not on any of facebook, not any of those media. I do use linkedin. I find linkedin

05:34extremely effective especially for recruitment purposes and connecting professionals. So that

05:41is a very very good tool but let us remember the phone is just a tool

05:47and there are many many other ways in which we can connect and reach out to people.

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