You might be tempted to focus your attention on the thing itself, the physical entity of printed page, but you would be wrong. The importance of printing was not in the printed page itself, but rather in the ideas unleashed by the printed page. In the same way, when we wonder about the significance of the computer, we are misplacing our attention. What was important about printing was writing, the gathering, publication, and group consideration of ideas. What is important about the computer is programming.
Programming is the new writing.
I don't mean to suggest that programming is a new form of writing in the same way that algebra is a new form of writing, or musical notation is a new form of writing. No, programming is much bigger than these examples, because it permits expression and exploration of ideas on a very different scale than conventional writing. I'd like to expend a few extra electrons to explain some of the cogitative advantages of programming. I recognize that, as non-programmers, you won't be able to grasp my points from direct experience, so I will ask you to take my word about the powers of this new kind of language. One big idea that programming handles very well is abstraction.