I think we have to recognize that the use of the computer has changed over time. It's no longer the "computing" device that the users of yore recognize. Before

I think we have to recognize that the use of the computer has changed over time. It's no longer the "computing" device that the users of yore recognize. Before the late seventies, the use of computers were restricted to those who absolutely needed them and could afford them. In the late seventies and early eighties the computers started entering the homes of ordinary people and where primarily used by the 'nerdy' kids. These were the kids that actually used the computers to program things and even program their own games (or copy/import other freely available game source code) and played them. Come the nineties and we see the proliferation of high end games and the 'non-nerdy' users focused on using the computer as a game console. This was also the advent of the web browser and now the whole new world of the internet became accessible to the normal folks. The audience today considers the computer as nothing but a commodity device just like a phone or an MP3 player. Now babies and toddlers are as comfortable with them as their grandparents are still confused with them. You can't blame the kids of today for not knowing what the computer was originally used for. We read email, browse the web, play games and occasionally use it for the odd assignments which require a Word processor of some sort.