That's really a distinction of degree, though. It seems like the only real difference is whether you're programming Python, Photoshop, Excel, bash or whatever, and the power of the tools available to you. I'm not sure that whether it actually involves writing text to be interpreted is important.

I think it's not a distinction of degree any more than the difference between algebra (which everyone is expected to know) is different from calculus (which most high school graduates are exposed to) and then fourier transforms and vector calculus (which 2nd year university students are expected to know).

I think something like "basic automation" provides the same type of introductory computer literacy as algebra does for maths, and "learning how to program" is similar to a continued education in maths.

Different syntax/symbols, different levels of power, yep, pretty much the same deal. Different levels of math are, in a practical sense, different degrees of the same thing. There are different kinds of math and there are different kinds of programming/automation, sure, but it mostly feels like "this is harder/easier/more intense".

"Automation" may well be a good bait word for luring in unsuspecting non-nerds, but it's still lightweight programming, a subset. I think at this point we're in agreement.