Andrei Rusiy, a SoCo SNP supporter. On Twitter he is @laban2018, and on Telegram he is @LABAN171.

This profile is part of the series SoCo Spotlights: The Stories of our SoCo Supporters. As the interviewee is not a native English speaker, his thoughts and ideas were translated to the best of his abilities and the quotes have been slightly edited for fluency.

He’s the man who’s been almost every man.

Andrei Rusiy was an oriental spice salesman, a journalist, a loader at a railway station and a foreman at a construction site before he became the secondary school psychologist he is now.

His first job at a school was as a Russian language teacher and “social pedagogue.” Later, the school was in need of a psychologist, so he completed a second degree in psychology (the first being a degree in journalism). Recently, he finished another degree in law.

Rusiy is a 35 year-old man from Belarus, a country in Eastern Europe. He’s been a school psychologist for about 12 years now, and said his decision to devote himself to a career in education was because he “felt a calling.” (But he also said he’s not sure about that.)

When asked if three degrees was typical for a Belarusian, he answered it was not.

“I just like to study and develop myself,” Rusiy said. “To gain new knowledge and experiences.”

While Rusiy bears the respectable marks of a true philomath, as embodied in his multiple occupations and degrees, he cannot be accused of the same elitism other academics may harbor.

“I spent two years in prison,” he said. “I understand the lives of the different segments of my country’s population. I’ve been to Russia and Ukraine. There are very different people living in Russia and Ukraine, with very different standards of living. I know very well what hunger is, and I also know what it means to wear a gold cross on your chest. It’s priceless.”

In this sense, it is perhaps noteworthy to consider Rusiy as less of an academic (who are more inclined to draw from books and research rather than personal experience) and more of a sociologist slash gonzo journalist — a person who observes and learns from the experiences he’s lived, and then uses this knowledge to analyze the world and its people.

Rusiy insists that his varying perspectives of the world are critical to understanding how different people’s mentalities can be. He said each social group maintains its own perception of life, influencing everything from how they manage their finances to how they resolve conflicts.

But despite his past work illustrating the differences of disparate societal groups, Rusiy’s varied paths in life have also led him to discover a common thread amongst his friends: everyone uses social networks.

It didn’t matter whether he talked to people who could barely afford bread or people who could gorge on lobsters regularly: in all of his encounters, Rusiy determined that most people spent an equal amount of time on social networking.

The motivations for their time on the internet are of course different, he said. Wealthy people use social media to flaunt status and have fun; young people go online to date and find friends; the impoverished look for support and/or a shoulder to cry on, and the elderly like to occupy their endless free time with online games.

Everyone has their reasons, Rusiy concluded, but the truth is, at this point, the entire world is being dragged online— and consequently, into social networking.

Rusiy also emphasized how any person with shortcomings uses social media to become “those they dreamed of being”.

“As a psychologist, I understand that life in social networking is a departure from reality and its problems,” he said.

This psychological context for social networking, along with its evident dominance amongst all members of society, is why Rusiy chose to support the SoCo SNP project.

So many people turn to social networking to turn away from their realities, he reiterated, which serves as an unproductive escape from their lives. Right now, people use social networking to lament their problems and distract themselves. However, if people could make money through their social networking, they could truly use their time and online accounts more wisely.

Those who are stuck in poverty or who have been unlucky to “be born with flaws” would be able to enter the world of real money, facilitating them on their journey to achieving their dreams. All sorts of people would be able to receive money for pleasure, a definitive bonus. Each user would be able to set a real goal for themselves, use his or her time productively, and utilize social media to work towards becoming the people they desire to be. In other words, monetizing people’s social assets would transform the world of social networking from being “a departure from reality” to being an opportunity to make one’s dreams one’s reality.

Rusiy also effused over the impact he felt SoCo SNP could have on the general population.

“I think the creators of this project did not count on such a wide audience,” he said. “It will be able to help not only the young and poor, but the elderly and the disabled, and it could even inspire the wealthy to create new jobs where people earn coins with their social networks. Ultimately, this project will unite all users and make their stay on their social networking more targeted, with less time wasted and more go-getting.”

If you’re interested in being interviewed, please contact SoCo SNP at socosnp@gmail.com, or message the admin of the SoCo Telegram chat.