With technology seeping into everything, it is important for us to be aware of those technologies we use in daily life. If you have a mobile phone, you must at least know what to do if something goes wrong.

The same applies to your computer. I got a desperate call from a friend last week saying his system had crashed. What was he doing when it happened, I asked. He said he was playing some games. Did he download or click any file? No, he said. I rushed to his house and switched on the machine. Yes. The screen was blank. Adjusting the power cable was all it took to bring the computer ‘back to life'.

Technology will continue to be scary unless you try to understand it. No. I am not asking you to start learning programming. But there is no harm in poking around with the settings or buttons to see what they really do.

Of course, you can draw the line as to where you stop exploring — especially when you think you may not be able to “roll back” if something goes wrong. Here too, the Internet is flush with sites offering help to any problem.

Some techies go out of the way to help total strangers. I have a friend in Mumbai who helps me whenever I run into trouble or have doubts with tech. I have neither seen him nor spoken to him. All our interactions have been through Twitter and Gtalk.

A question in Twitter, Quora or any other tech forum is guaranteed to get you a flood of suggestions and helpful hints. Sometimes, even if you address a question to a specific person in Twitter, others voluntarily reply to the tweet with their suggestions. I used to wonder why these guys spend so much time helping others. It is just their interest in tech. Some say they learn more when they help others troubleshoot.

Almost all gadgets are noob-friendly. Don't be afraid to test out what different programs/apps/settings do. Even if they do nothing significant, you would have, at least, learnt something about the gadget.

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