Reclaiming the Human in Technology | Indigenous Systems

We are the most connected generation in history, and the loneliest. Our screens glow brighter than ever, yet the space between us grows wider.

I realised how deep this had gone a few years ago when I read Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Every page hit a nerve. It described what I had been feeling but couldn’t quite name. How our attention was being stripped away, and with it, our ability to think deeply, rest properly, and connect meaningfully.

It made me look at my own habits, at my daughter’s generation, and at the industry I was part of. I started asking harder questions. How much of what we call innovation is really just distraction? Who benefits from our constant engagement, and what does it cost us?

Then I read Belonging by Owen Eastwood. The book is about identity, purpose, and the power of collective connection. It draws on whakapapa, the idea that we each stand in a continuous line of ancestors and future generations. His words reminded me that belonging is not something we find. It’s something we build and protect together.

Around the same time, I began noticing a wave of posts online. Thousands of people were sharing stories of loneliness and disconnection. Many said they felt more comfort talking to AI chatbots than to other humans. Some even called them friends.

That was the moment I knew we needed to do better.

Field work - Testing a new app

I’ve spent years working in technology, but that was the first time I felt the weight of what we were creating. We had built machines smart enough to mimic care, yet people were lonelier than ever. Somewhere in the rush for progress, we had forgotten the human.

That realisation became the seed for Native Sentient Ventures, my commitment to design technology that restores, rather than replaces, our connection to each other and to the world around us.

For me, it’s about creating technology that serves connection over consumption, shaped by Indigenous knowledge that views intelligence as living and reciprocal.

Research shows the average person now spends only 47 seconds on a screen before switching tasks, and it can take up to 25 minutes to recover focus. Every swipe and notification fractures attention and floods the brain with dopamine, rewarding distraction instead of depth.

Beyond the research, it’s something deeper we’re losing. The ability to listen, to feel wonder, and to be fully with each other.

Technology promised us connection, but what we got was constant availability.

A kaumātua (elder) once said to me during a wānanga (meeting):

“All intelligence is living intelligence; the forest, the water, the wind. We learn by being in relationship.”

That talk reshaped how I think about technology and intelligence. What if AI could learn like that? What if it could be guided by Indigenous systems thinking and built through reciprocity, empathy, and relationship?

Technology should strengthen focus and mental clarity. It should nurture empathy and real-world connection. It should protect identity and cultural integrity. And it should inspire curiosity, not dependency.

In te ao Māori, mauri is the life force that exists within all things. When technology disrupts that balance, it weakens mauri. When created with reciprocity and care, it has the potential to restore it.

This understanding is reflected in the work of Te Hiku Media, who describe their data and digital systems as living taonga (treasure) that carry mauri and whakapapa (genealogy). Their approach to AI and data sovereignty reminds us that technology is never neutral. It inherits the intent and values of those who build it.

Right now, we’re at a crossroads. We can keep building tools that capture our attention, or we can create ones that restore it.

I choose to restore it.

Mauri Ora,

Amber.

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Native Sentient is a global innovation ecosystem guided by Indigenous systems thinking. We design technology that strengthens connection between people, place and purpose.

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