Divine or devil: How tech platforms are shaping our lives and relationships
“Technology is all about change. On the cusp of this new age, we are going to see a new wave of how technology is going to drive our future.” - Russ Shaw CBE
Russ Shaw CBE, founder of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, describes what made him want to work in the sector, his tech optimism still burning bright for our current age of digital disruption. He is a rare prospector in the tech gold rush: an even-handed and thoughtful advocate that is neither a Utopian evangelist nor an apocalyptic doomsayer, but someone who sees the sector's logarithmic potential and systemic challenges with equal clarity. “What’s going to be the next game changer? It’s going to be Generative AI”, he tells me. Russ has seen a few of these ‘next big things’ before, but genAI really could be as disruptive as some of its proponents claim.
We speak as the public mood about tech has veered sharply from excitement to existential concern. There’s growing unease about what our phones, our feeds, and now our AI-powered content bots are doing to us, and our relationships. And yet, Russ remains hopeful. “AI and automation have huge potential for productivity and efficiency,” he notes, though he's quick to point out that these technologies also raise thorny ethical questions. Transparency, data provenance, and governance models will be key. Of course, AI doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It will increasingly be living inside our devices.
Is it our tech-enabled devices then, that are really the problem? I’ve just started reading Smartphone Nation by Dr Kaitlyn Regehr - Why we’re all addicted to screens and what you can do about it. With all the solemnity and authority of FDR, big moments can define eras: 29th June 2007. A Date that will live in infamy. Our attention and emotional hardware were suddenly and deliberately attacked by the empire of Apple. This was the date the first iPhone arrived. Social media apps started moving onto our smartphones soon after.
The iPhone 4 in 2010 spread the use of the forward-facing camera, allowing users to easily see what they looked like (sans mirror), and increased the upload of photos of ourselves on social media - to such a degree that ‘Selfie’ was Oxford Dictionary’s ‘word of the year’ in 2013. That was it, that was when we all became anxious, self-involved, narcissists. Well, maybe not straight away the attention (vanity) economy arose, limbic capitalism and the exhaustion of self-view on Zoom. The Oxford Dictionaries crowned “selfie” the word of the year in 2013. Jonathan Haidt and others have traced a striking cultural and psychological boundary to that moment - a societal K-T boundary for the digital age: a boundary that is evident in data looking at social and technological data. The smartphone asteroid had struck. We looked inwards and online. And maybe never quite looked up again at the world around s with the same interest.
“I think the reputation [of the tech sector] is mixed… Every company needs to be a good corporate citizen. That starts at the top with the leadership.”
Russ recognises the stranglehold that these devices have on our thoughts and attention, with schools moving to ban them as they are “too distracting”. These tools may now be vital for our personal and professional lives, but “there needs to be a balance” in their use, says Russ. He’s not myopic to the broader perception problems either. “I think the reputation [of the tech sector] is mixed,” Russ admits. While he’s inspired by the energy of new start-ups and scale-ups disrupting inefficient systems, he’s troubled by lapses in responsibility from Big Tech; Meta’s relaxed approach to fact-checking, for instance. “Every company needs to be a good corporate citizen,” he says. “That starts at the top with the leadership.”
And leadership, for Russ, also means inclusion. The tech world’s traditional uniform - young white male with white trainers, mid-Atlantic drawl, Silicon Valley attitude of move fast and break things - no longer cuts it with much of the public and politicians. A stir was caused at London Tech Week recently when a woman with a baby wasn’t allowed in. Russ is a big believer that the sector needs to do better in widening the talent pipeline: more diversity, more opportunity, more global representation. "D&I starts from the top," he says plainly. Whether it's London, Lagos, Riyadh or São Paulo (where samba meets semiconductors, perhaps?), Russ is helping seed Global Tech Advocate hubs with capable local leaders who can carry the torch forward.
But how to ensure these hubs of displaced volunteers represent the tech community at its best? Firstly, Russ makes the effort to visit them all personally on the ground. Russ also highlighted the positive signs of progress: the TA ‘UK Black Women in Tech’ is one of the largest communities in the country. Saudi women are entering the sector in increasing numbers. Still, it’s clear that more needs to be done to improve the image of the stereotypical sector.
“The Government should roll out six-month digital and AI training programmes for all UK citizens.”
The Spending Review from the government may have allocated more money for science and innovation - tech can increase productivity, but people need the skills to use it properly. As we edge into a new AI-powered epoch, there are looming macro questions about regulation, safety, and employment disruption. Russ is clear-eyed: “The Government should roll out six-month digital and AI training programmes for all UK citizens.” This initiative would acknowledge the scale of the coming upheaval. Not every job will survive, not every skillset will endure in human hands - just as the looms and spinning jennies in the 1st Industrial Revolution. But if technology is to serve us, we all need the tools to wield it.
What of the UK’s role in regulatory stance for innovation on the global stage? “The EU has one model. The US is the Wild West. The UK has a chance to carve out a third way.” Ah yes, the famous third way, is it any surprise that Tony Blair is so keen on AI? Russ believes in the UK’s potential to lead with pragmatic, proportionate regulation that fosters innovation while building public trust. The Government’s AI Adoption Plan is, in his view, was an impressive step in the right direction.
“Meeting in person allows you to build a relationship. Often these engagements centre around food and understanding a place in a deeper way.”
And despite running a global network, Russ still believes in the importance of in-person encounters - something we heartily endorse at The Great RomCon? “Meeting in person allows you to build a relationship,” he tells me. “Often these engagements centre around food and understanding a place in a deeper way.” Even in tech, where the online call is the default, the value of presence endures. The world is a stage, and all men and women merely players.
Speaking of stage presence, Russ has even found time to link up with a small indie band called Coldplay through their ‘Global Stars’ initiative—connecting sustainability, tech, and the next generation of digital leaders. And before we part ways, one final question, naturally: What’s Russ’s favourite romantic comedy? Without hesitation: ‘It Happened One Night’. A classy 1930s classic with Clark Gable playing the male lead in a ‘love across the classes’ adventure across the States.
A reminder that sometimes genuine relationships come when you least expect it, on a road trip, not an app. Tech may be driving us into the future, but perhaps we can all be “hungry, and scared - both at the same time” about the potential grace or callousness of our new AI overlords.