Sadly I still encounter too many people who still feel that technology is being done to them. From the senior execs I worked with who winged at me about what IT wouldn’t let them do, to that sinking feeling when trying to send a client a presentation and they say “your file doesn’t work” or they can’t work out how to get it through their organisation’s firewall. Even using Skype or knowing how to bcc emails appears to be beyond the abilities of too many.

Don’t get me wrong. I am no geek expecting people to have PhDs in computing science. I have never been a fan of technology as an end in itself. I’ve never taken computers apart. I’ve only written as much code as I’ve written bad poems. My excitement about technology is as a tool to help me do more and better, along the lines of Steve Jobs’ “bicycles for the mind”.

In pretty much any job a computer, or smart phone, is the tool of your trade. It is a professional competence to know how to use it.