The obvious answer is: Both.  Technology is amazing and has enhanced our lives in many ways.  On the other hand, technology is reducing the amount of physical activity time and taking away from the development of interpersonal skills.  In general, I believe it is hurting relationships... for young people and adults.  

     When the Power Grid fails and communications go down (say, in a war or economic collapse), the current generation will be wandering around like Zombies.

I think techology is very much a mixed blessing.

Both..for one thing, tech is the future and becoming savvy with it is mandatory. On the other hand, it is no substitute for life or real experience

Both, but the negative affects can certainly be managed better.

When I was a kid, my parents would only let me watch one hour of TV per day unless it was a special movie or something they approved of.  We didn't like those rules because we missed a lot of the shows our friends were watching and we were a little out of the loop. But instead of staring at the TV, we went outside all day long. We bicycled ten miles to a park, played all day, biked home. We went to play with friends. We cut branches to use as fishing poles, put some string, a safety pin, and a worm on there and caught sunnies in the nearby pond. We built things and pretended and created.

There's no reason children can't be taught to spend time away from electronics. I didn't do a good job of that with my children, and most of the people my age didn't either, but things could be turned around if enough people recognized the need.

What Carol Williams said

Good morning Tamra. No matter what we think, it is here to stay. Unfortunate it does plenty of harm.

 Good morning Tamera. I think it is a double edged sword. I can see where it helps as well as hinder.  It is a great teaching tool but it does not help children develop relationships.

I have two kids and their childhood is definitely different from mine. Yet, they can not imagine the world without technologies and it is ok. Their kids will be probably playing different games as well. 

Tamra Lee Ulmer every innovation comes with good and not-so-good. It's up to us to embrace the 'good' part.

Wait until they get older and then have their own kids. It will be interesting to see what that generation is into. 

I think they are developing their minds and will be suited for highly technical jobs. My generation had all kinds of physical activities and outside play and now my generation is in poor physical shape and overweight. So time will tell.

Tamara,

It depends on how it is presented to them.  A

Hurting.  If you tell the kids to go ourside and play they go outside and want to take electronics with them.  They have no idea of what to do once out there.  (THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS OF COURSE)

Excessive "screen time" - including old-fashioned television - has been shown to have some very negative effects on brain development and learning skills. Some studies show as little as a half hour of flashing screen images can be harmful for infants and very young children. BUT other studies show benefits from some of the better options for screen time, like improved response times and rapid problem solving developed by playing some computer games. So there's good and bad in it, as with most things in life.

Hurting. Too many umms, ahhs, etc in a sentence 'ya know'? Actually I used to think that when I hear the President talk with all his 'umms'.

Tamra,
My 8 year old grandson isn’t outside as much as I was but he creates content and distributes it to the world via Instagram, etc. Some small loss but I think the gains outweigh it.

It is probably helping their intellect but hurting in other ways because they do not send as much quality time with each other. They are always on computers and cell phones.

Technology may be making parenting more challenging.

I think it's a little of both.

Hurting.  Killing their interpersonal skills.  They don't talk.  I've seen them text someone they were sitting next to rather than talk.

They have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips, but they google something, they don't necessarily learn it.

If I ever get married and have kids, I plan on not letting them have tech at a young age (seriously, why does a first grader NEED a cell phone) and not allow them TV after school starts (if at all), except for special events.

Both! They benefit from technology and are being somewhat hindered by it

Technology puts the world at the children's fingertips, which is great for knowledge and learning, but I would like to see more old-fashioned playing outside, as you say, or just with each other and without joy sticks in their hands. Also, I think more reading would be good and learning to THINK, rather than just watching images flash in front of their eyes.

WIthout a doubt hurting them. In interviewing high school students, most could not communicate, they were insecure in speaking to others and in basic communication such as looking at the person you are talking to. Then there is phone skills which are non existant in this text happy generation. 

Technology is a double-edged sword and can be amazing and offer the world solutions we have never seen. At the same time I believe my children have suffered from it with their relationships with their peers. They spend more time interacting in cyberspace and less time physically interacting with each other. Nothing is more telling than going to a restaurant and seeing couples or families on their phones throughout the whole dining experience and never speaking to each other. Our new reality...

Since I don't have children, I do see many young children enraptured with technology and the world is pasing them by. Too bad. If I had children, I would not allow them cell telephones and limit their computer and T.V. time, replacing it with outdoors time as I enjoyed when young.

From an educational stand point it is very good.

Too many Parents are afraid to structure their kids lives as that is what their friends are also doing.

Like us there should be a plan of action to round out their lives: reading books, outside activities etc.

Both!

I can think of many other reasons why bicycle usage and sound pollution is down.

Am seeing my two grandsons on their devices. They are amazingly quick, smart, etc. They grasp things so fast. I believe that's the world they are in. Yes, I feel bad that they aren't out there playing like we used to do, but it's not safe for them unless supervised. Now playtime is organized such as soccer and football, tennis, hockey, ice skating, swimming, etc. My grandsons do it all. But never on the street.

I could count on one hand the number of obese children we had in our entire K-6 grade school (approx 300 kids) when I was growing up. Nowdays out of a  classroom of 30 kids, half of them are obese. What do you think is the cause?

I think we are seeing society evolve and some of us may agree with it and some may not. 

I prefer to see kids playing outdoors, but it doesn't happen much anymore. I was slow to respond to technology with my daughter, but it reached a point where we had to so she could keep up with the rest of the kids and her class. 

YES.
Both.
So much wonder in our universe.
But we (baby boomers/gen x'rs) are the last to know 'normal' and that was a universe of EXTREME wonder that we were active participants in, not just recipients of a #@$^&&*&) FEED!

I know technology has helped me a lot so why not younger people?

Some of each, they have a new world to live in that we never imagined, they will do fine.

For those that use technology the smart way I think it is a huge benefit. I mean we have 6 year olds making 6 figures a month by posting unboxing videos on YouTube. Things like that were not possible when I was young. I love an app called Coursera and if I had that, I would have had a college level business education by the time I graduated high school for free.

I see a lot of kids just doing mindless things though, non stop and if they are using technology in that way it is hurting them, a lot.