No matter how complex the gadget, the question is should always be the same: what is quality and appropriateness of the information being gathered by the gadget.
The level of automation in our lives now has diminished the level of obscure info we need to know in order to manage our day to day.
This means that we have more capacity to disseminate information. In theory we can use this to expand our knowledge base and better our well being.
Yet what seems to be happening is similar to relationship to food. We tend to use information to eliminate boredom without much thought to the information's usefulness. This is akin to eating empty calories.
Like pleasure food, information as entertainment is good in moderation. But too much of it does tend to bring about a sort of information pollution. A state where we no longer can process the information due to the volume.
I think that in 20-30 years people will look at our info diets the same way we currently think of the typical American food diet- too much junk food, not enough nutrition.
UpDate 01AUG2012:
Now there's a book on the issue : Information Diet
