I work in tech and have done for the last decade. Despite my close involvement I couldn’t be less excited about being a part of the industry.

First of all, let’s not conflate the industry with technology. Technology in and of itself is often a good thing. Pencils are a good technology. The internet is a good technology. The tech industry is the collection of things made with the building blocks of modern technology, one that is increasingly concerned with ideas that are self fulfilling as opposed to ideas that benefit society.

Let’s start with a good old burn list…Things that can burn in hell:

This burn list and a myriad of other atrocities paint an ugly surrealist landscape of the tech industry today. At least Dali’s unsettling visions were fictional. As nice as it may be to look at those deserts of melting clocks, I wouldn’t want to live there. Whilst the tech industry can feel pervasive and all encompassing we should remind ourselves that it is optional, we can choose not to involve ourselves.

The tech world is just one of many canvases. Though many within it like to believe it is the whole picture. Just as with any painting there is an infinite world that exists beyond the canvas. The carpenter does not concern themselves with DAOs either through choice or blissful ignorance.

Working in the tech industry it’s easy to fixate on the handful of trending topics that demand our attention at any moment. As with all news we tend to give more weight to the sensational. The above burn list is very much the flavour of the week. In a year’s time I could easily write and entirely different list; which feels paradoxically comforting.

When it comes to media representing only the most sensational aspects of reality, the tech industry is no different. Therefore, for every bullshit tech industry movement there is a long tail of good innovation that is less headline grabbing. It’s that world I want to be a part of. So where is this world? what is happening in it? How do I be a part of it?

Here’s a list of things I’d like to bring closer to me, and know more deeply:

No-code, low-code, bootstrap-enabling tech. VC money puts startups on a high-growth trajectory that makes it difficult to root decisions in socially responsible outcomes. The more companies that can successfully bootstrap themselves the better IMO.

ESG (environmental, social and governance) fintech with a focus on the S and G. Fintech with an added climate benefit, fine. But fintech would be better to focus their attention on financial inclusion. Namely enabling more people to accumulate wealth and financial security. There’s a few companies doing exactly this, more please.

Mental health enabled by tech. Tech for getting better is having a moment. We’ve done wellness and turned that into a profitable industry which honestly wasn’t the greatest plan but certainly got a lot of people thinking more deeply about how to be kinder to themselves. But the real in the weeds work of psychological therapy is something worth tackling with technology. The primary goal here should be inclusion. Talking therapies are the gold standard for mental recovery but only few are privileged enough to afford it. If you want to delve deeper into this area of interest the term to search is Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT).

Going beyond user-centered design. Even today tech companies are still very much business-centered. Validating that something works via user testing is not the same as it being beneficial for the user. For instance, Facebook’s myriad of shady data handling practices. So there is still much work to be done to make products truly user-centered. But another mindset can help us get there. Societal-centered design broadens our view to see the effects our products have at a community level. If we applied more societal-centered design to social media then we may find a reduction in hate crime and fake news, for instance.

Applying the best bits of the tech industry to the worst bits of reality. Beam is one such example. They took the crowdfunding model popularised by kickstarter and applied it to tackling the U.K. homeless crisis. You can help sponsor individuals to help them learn new skills to get the job they want or even provide basics like stable housing. The tech for good industry is an inspiring place to explore. As I said earlier it tends not to command the headlines and so we must work harder to uncover these stories.