@amoroso That looks like an essay prompt! I don't disagree with you that the period you have in mind saw a "Cambrian explosion" of computing devices and peripherals, but there wasn't a matching set of socially empowering politics along with that. The politics were libertarian and individualist.

On a social level, the ads in BYTE perpetuate the sexism and classism of the day. Computers were a revolution only for the privileged and those who hold power. The ads were aimed at that demographic. The purposes to which computers should be put were intended to entrench power in the hands of the privileged.