Does Modern Technology Simplify or Complicate Our Lives?

I just recently updated my phone to a Sprint Centro, and this phone can do everything (except clean my house). I can record take pictures, make videos, watch T.V., listen to music and podcasts, check my email, surf the web, call or text anyone, play games, read books, find a map location, etc. It's really useful, but it can also be incredibly distracting. I could waste a whole lot of time messing around with this thing, to the detriment of my family and friends (crackberry indeed!). Luckily, the novelty wore off after the first week (and after I tried to plow through the 300 page manual). So it is nice to have a compact organizer/computer/phone/camera and it does simplify my life in that I don't have to carry a separate date book and phone around. It's nice to be able to check email and browse the web when I have a moment to spare. But moderation, as with most things, is the key. Isn't that true of most of the conveniences we have now? They simplify our lives so that we have more free time to waste messing around with our gadgets or consuming media.

That's one reason why I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like to. It detracts from the time I could be spending with my family or working on projects that are a higher priority. Don't get me wrong. I think blogging is a blast and it's a great tool for communicating ideas and keeping in touch with family and friends. But for now, I'll have to settle on posting infrequently, since I am a slow writer and I generally like to post pithy essays when I can.

Anyway, back to modern technology. Do any of you have some gadgets that you simply can't live without? I admit that I would be lost without a computer. I have to check my email at least twice a day and have a list of daily must-read web sites. I'm not really into text messaging (for one thing, I feel compelled to use correct grammar and spelling all of the time).

And look at me, I've already spent way too much time overthinking this post on a relatively simple topic. Argh!