Bittersweet?

Is today's technology bittersweet, vast improvement of quality of life, a form of rape of yesteryear's togetherness, does it add to... or take away? Does it help us as much as hurt us?
I've pondered this little yinyang often. Technology is great and help us in the fields of medicine, military, even saves us money on stamps. It makes office jobs much more efficient and faster, it helps us retrieve information within seconds. It helps us design and manufactor parts for our saftey. We can cook food instantly. We can press a button on the microwave oven and, poof, it's done. The air conditioners are a must! Our tools are now made to make work as easy as posible. Our vehicles are like palaces on wheels.

Flip side: It takes away family time because the younger generation stay in chatrooms. It hurts our interpersonal skills (dealing with people face to face), handwritting is a personal and distinct form of sharing. I love to see my late mother's handwritting. Is instant always good? We live in an "instant gratification" society. I remember the smell of grandma's cooking on Sunday after church...she cooked it the "old fashion" way. I don't remember complaining about a car without an airconditioner. I know that I was a lot more healthy using the old fashion tools to work.

So, I like them both! Each category has an element of benefit. How can we combine the two? I know if my boys went without a computer or game that they would go through a gruesome withdrawal. I know I would have a more quality relationship with my wife if you took away the cell phone. How can we get away from it all and go out to the country and sit on the ground and eat watermellon and watch the kids play something that doesn't make a "ding or bling" sound?
It seems that all we have time for these days (as far as going to a beautiful place to relax) is only on a desktop background, even a screen saver foots the bill. However, simply writing this blog is a portion of technology. So, all of this blog post seems to point to one thing...I'm a poor confused soul that wants only the good things in life, whether they are old fashion or space aged technology.

SG