I spend all day using technology I don't understand.

I was talking to a friend of mine recently about the Wonders of the Universe programmes that have been on the BBC recently and he was saying you can watch them, enjoy them, feel inspired by them and then remember absolutely no relevant details about them whatsoever 24 hours later.

I confessed the same thing happens to me.

This then lead to a larger confession of all the other things we're surrounded by on a daily basis and don't fully understand.

The list included radio waves, electricity, video game technology, text messaging services and TV; things I use pretty much every day.

So my somewhat rambling point is this: being unsure of how databases, The Web, e-books and all the rest of the stuff that is fired at you through a computer screen works, isn't a barrier to using it effectively.

Ultimately, what you need is the end product - information/data you can use for your reading and assignments.
So for the self-confessed technophobes amongst you don't worry about the details and try to enjoy the benefits of more information being at your fingertips than at any point in human history.

And even though I have no idea how it all works, I certainly consider that a wonder of my universe.