I just saw a perfect example of how we have declined.  I walked down the hall at work and had 3 women, all side to side, walking about as slow as possible.  They were not talking to each other and were completely oblivious to their surroundings.  Each was staring at their smart phone doing something.

I made a conscious effort last night to ignore my cell phone.  When I walked into the house, I took it out of my pocket and put it down in an inconvenient location with the ringer on silent.

I did use the computer a bit, but other than that I avoided technology.  The most notable change was that I actually picked up two books and read them a bit.  I had a travel book I am using for research that I read through after dinner.  Then at night I read 50 pages of a novel.

So far so good.