Comment by jacquesm

I think there is an 'optimum' level for technology of all kinds, below that you really want more and it is clear that there is room for improvement. But once the optimum has been reached any further additions will degrade the experience.

Examples:

Car controls:

  pre: direct taps and gauges plumbed into engine parts and such, real switches and levers. 
  optimum: does what it should, not more, not less, more reliable than the old stuff, easy to fix and relatively cheap to fabricate
  too much: touchscreens. For everything.

(ICE) Car electronics:

  pre: carburettors, bad winter starts, bad fuel consumption, pollution
  optimum: EFI, highly reliable, aftermarket parts interchangeable between brands
  too much: DRM on everything, parts won't even fit same model a year older, are ridiculously expensive and unreliable to boot

TV:

  pre: two channels, black and white, bad image quality, crappy small screens
  optimum: 20 channels or so, in a way already more than you can consume, good quality color image, fairly easy to see screens (say, up to 3' across).
  too much: wall-to-wall screens that intrude on your privacy every chance they can, inability to build up your own collection of content (DRM), pay *for ever* for the same stuff
  way too much: youtube.

CPUs:

  pre: 8 bits, too slow for many applications, nice and better than an abacus though
  optimum: 1990s OS, very little eye candy, just enough to take the edge off, fast, and enough horsepower to do meaningful work
  too much: 2020 OS, nothing but eye candy, reduced functionality, telemetry, spyware, forced updates that are just as likely to improve things as they are to leave you stranded

and so on, you get the idea.

Technology has and always will have a place in my life. But my car is a 1997 model that doesn't phone home to the factory, has buttons instead of menus, my phone is a Nokia, and so on. Technology is my slave, not my master.