The door is open, why can't I walk through?

So my summer of enlightenment continues and I find myself with more questions than answers. I have opened the door to the world of educational technology tools, but at the same time I am hesitant to go through. It looks so fancy inside and I want to enter, but some lingering questions are holding me back. I am being held back for the same reasons I am hesitant to let my sixteen-month-old daughter play with my iPad or watch television. My hesitation is mostly coming from my fear of living even more in a world without tactile stimulation. There is something really nice about writing on paper and feeling a book in my hands, even though I sit here reading articles and books on my iPad. Working math problems out on paper without a calculator is empowering and I worry the kids are not getting this experience by using calculators at such an early age. The kids think I am crazy when I tell them calculators are not allowed in my physics class and in the past few years I have witnessed the damaging effects of students relying on calculators instead of their own brain. Think about the experience of writing or receiving a handwritten note.  Why are more and more schools incorporating gardening and farming into the curriculum? There is something so great but I can't describe about "getting your hands dirty" that makes for a powerful learning experience for the kids. By integrating more and more technology into our lives and curriculum are we taking away these "human" experiences from the kids? Plus, using technology more promotes the lack of physical activity.  Physical activities such as exercise has been scientifically shown to improve the mental capabilities more so than just stretching your brain, so how can I jump on this technology train knowing that it might lead to even more sitting around and just using your brain and not your body as well?

One of my esteemed colleagues constantly reminds me that the content in her class isn't really important, but "rather the habits of mind" that are developed from doing the work is her main goal. At what point are we doing a disservice to the kids by not expecting them to sit down and do some challenging work that might not be initially interesting to them? They learn patience, resilience, and many other important lessons that come with the struggle of learning the material. Isn't it only through struggle that true learning can happen and personal growth can occur? Think if the pride felt by the learner when solving a problem he or she couldn't have dreamed to have been able to solve.  When is it necessary to be able to read a textbook and solve problems and learn how to learn stuff in an independent way? This seems to go against the 21st Century Learning expectations, thus my hesitancy to enter with both feet into this new world I see through the open door.

With all of us spending more and more time online in our online communities we are losing touch with our world and actual community, and it makes me wonder where is the balance between technology and the real world? How do utilize technology without becoming dangerously immersed in it or without as Thoreau said "becoming tools of our tools?"  One of my colleagues challenged me to question the line in which we are running technology versus when it is running us. How do we maintain high expectations for the kids and give them the opportunity to practice hard work mastering difficult concepts while still using technology in a thoughtful and meaningful way? I want to use technology in the classroom, but until I figure out where the line is for becoming too immersed, less physically connected, possibly less rigorous, and perhaps deficient in physical activity I am treading lightly in the technology ocean.