I disagree. Knowing how memory works, how a CPU works, what Multi-Processing is, etc. are all pretty vital in being a decent programmer - yes, even for the web: if you don't know that Javascript contexts run single threaded (in the UI thread) then you run the risk of writing hugely unperformant code.
Working through complex mental maps is all you need. Thinking through all possibilities and edge cases, and logically ordering instructions to represent a mental model. It's similar to chess where you have to evaluate every possible and unexpected scenario. If you're good at chess you'll almost certainly be good at programming.
If "programming is easy" for some people it's because this one skill comes naturally, and beginners should be made aware of that before they get unrealistic expectations.