What do I think?

What do I think? Good question, and a tough one to answer. After reading all about technology, using technology and witnessing the benefits of technology, I'm still mixed. Personally, I use it and need it, and I'm not sure I want to go back to times before the technology boom. I think that I feel old, and a bit challenged when it comes to grasping all there is to know about technology. I was raised on the archaic Apple 2c. Anyone remember, or am I dating myself? I remember the wow feeling that I had when I had the few minutes to use it in school. The funny thing is that my kids recently asked me what a type writer was used for and what does it look like? It sends chills down my spine to think of the painful paper writing I attempted on a "word processor" typewriter. Children today have no concept of life before computers and the internet. They are completely satisfied in one stroke of the key to find an answer to a question they're wondering about. Research is not necessary, just a knowledge of how to navigate the internet. I'm not sure if we are losing something in the thinking process for kids. Struggling to look for certain words or books. Just simply looking up a word in a paper dictionary requires some thought process, alphabetical thinking and searching.
Sure the internet gives us immediate satisfaction, but will it imply that students become impatient to actually have to wait for something like an answer by a human, not a computer? Immediate satisfaction can be temporarily gratifying, but what are the long term ramifications of the internet? Just listening to some of the MIT and other professors speak about students today. It seems clear that the learning process has changed for all students. A few teachers even noted that teaching requires methods that "grab" the attention of students more because they are constantly bombarded with information in and out of school. How else will they keep students' attention on the lecture?
I think that we all need technology, and for us old folks, we have to embrace it, but it's also important to figure out when technology has taken over the fundamentals of learning. Our brains still need to be challenged and I think it's important to find a balance without losing too much of our essence as human beings.