Brave New World: Technophobia Is the Biggest Barrier to the Internet Revolution, Writes Becky Hogge

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If you've ever watched helplessly as your computer, which was functioning quite happily five minutes ago, deletes all your e-mails, photos and documents seemingly for no other reason than its deathly, machine-like whim, you'll know a feeling akin to being brought face-to-face, quietly, with the reality of your own mortality. There is a reason for this, and it's the dirty little secret of the professional class.

We are all technophobes. In most offices, you'll find the technology department hunkered down in a dingy basement, right next to the stationery store, where nobody has to think about it until they need it. And, like the paper and filing cabinets that corporate intranets …