Penny Power Ponders The Importance of a Human Touch in a Digital World

"When your brain is aching, it means you have not used your heart enough."

?– Penny Power, 2025

Did your brain ache at the end of last year? As we step into 2025, I want to share why I’ve committed my weekly Ponderings to infusing emotion, inspiration, love, and togetherness into your world, especially critical in this era dominated by AI and digital innovation—a world not all of us were born into.

In my 40 years in the IT and digital sectors, from the migration of mainframes to desktops, the emergence of the home PC, the start of the Internet, through to being part of the growth in social networking and ultimately social media, and now into the age of AI.

I've witnessed extraordinary technological evolution. Yet, despite being told in my early years that my emotional sensitivity was a weakness, I've embraced these traits as my greatest strengths, leveraging digital platforms to foster genuine connections.

?My soul aim has been to achieve three fundamental things.

1. Value people: Firstly, to ensure that when I am with someone, they will know how much they matter, in that moment, for a period of time, or maybe for my entire life.?

2. Mutual Contribution: to have the opportunity to contribute to them, to create a space where we build a level of trust in me that allows me to help them in some way, and equally, and very importantly, for me to give them that opportunity also.?

3. Deep Connection: to show love and my desire to connect deeply with their heart.?

Much of these three drivers for me were formed in childhood and grew in my adult life, and I am very fortunate that I was able to utilise the emerging world of technology to achieve this, through my early leadership and through the use of digital technology.

In 1998, my husband Thomas and I launched Ecademy, the world's first social networking site for business owners. Ecademy pioneered a space for genuine business connections long before others recognised the value.?

However, by 2009, the shift towards broader social media platforms signalled a move away from deep, meaningful interactions to more superficial exchanges. This shift, I believe, has paralleled an increase in mental health challenges, as our society began to value data over genuine human connection.

As technology strives to replicate human functions, from manual labor to cognitive tasks, our hearts remain uniquely our own. No machine or algorithm can replicate the genuine warmth and empathy that human connections provide.

Through my Ponderings, I've shared 76 reflections on maintaining this human touch. Each edition underscores the irreplaceable value of emotions and love in distinguishing ourselves and enriching our lives and businesses.

As we move at pace into a new year, I invite you to join me in continuing to explore how we can ensure that our digital interactions remain deeply human.

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Let's make 2025 a year where our digital advancements celebrate and amplify our human essence. Thank you for being part of this journey, and for allowing me the privilege to share in your lives.