Family Bonds Disappearing in the Silicon Valley Tech World: Insights From a Tech Pioneer

Hussein Al-Omari Courtesy to Bay Area Innovators

“We really have to balance in order to catch up on [family values]. Technology is way ahead of social life, even ahead of ethics or legislation,” said Hussein Al-Omari, who appears on Bay Area Innovators to explain why he thinks technological advancement shouldn’t be the only goal for Silicon Valley.

Mr. Al-Omari is one of the pioneers who worked in Silicon Valley back in the 1980s. But what makes him even more outstanding is his journey from a family of 15 in a remote Middle Eastern village to Stanford University. After witnessing the drastic changes brought by technology, Mr. Al-Omari shared his thoughts on the impact of high tech on family values.

“You should ban products if they cause harm to humanity. Because I see the damage,” said Mr. Al-Omari. “All those four professors lost their wives, they got divorced, and their families separated because they work all the time. It was really a trade-off between family and innovation and industry.”

As someone who filed 52 patents and worked with several Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Al-Omari also expressed his concerns about the implications of technological advancement. He said: “Sometimes, we push things too far. We fight even ethics and family values in the name of being politically correct.”

“You have engineers who don’t know sociology or psychology, yet they’re designing or deciding for the world how to live socially,” said Mr. Al-Omari. “They know so much about algorithms and technology, but they are the ones who design the algorithms and tell you how to live your life and live your lifestyle. And that’s pretty sad.”