In what situations do iPads belong?

While I believe technology is a great contributing factor in the education system I also believe it has some harmful side effects. In some ways I am playing devils advocate right now because I am typically an avid advocator to new technologies in education. Here are some things I have personally experienced that can be considered "harmful?" to my education. Up until highschool, I hand wrote all of my papers. Handwriting papers is beneficial for a number of reasons. One reason is that one can only write so fast, and thus what is written has usually gotten a certain amount of thought. This is especially true because I would make outlines and thus what is written is following a well thought out plan. Now with Microsoft Word, I am able to write much faster and get all of my ideas down on paper. I find that then when I go back to revise I am hesitant to remove things from my paper because there is just so much relevant content and weeding through becomes difficult. I sometimes find that if I sit down with pen and paper and create the traditional plan I used to use, I am able to develop more concrete ideas for my paper. I sometimes worry about the children growing up in a world of technology because I feel that sometimes these kids skip this traditional pen and paper path. This also relates to reading on technology. I have only recently (basically this semester) become relatively comfortable reading on computers and iPads. I used to need to print things out on paper not only to be able to take notes, but also because it was much more comfortable to read on paper than on a screen. Children today start reading from computers and other technologies at a young age and I find that many of them are so much more comfortable reading on a computer than in a physical book. All of this is based on what the child interacts with first, and most often. For example, I have always read newspapers online, and thus i'm more comfortable reading NY Times articles online than on the huge pieces of paper, but this does not hold true with eBooks or other articles. I have noticed technology helping and harming even outside the literature world. I learnd most of Calculus graphing by hand, and felt incredibly uncomfortable when I started using a calculator. It is true that the calculator makes things much much easier (after you learn the technology) but before you do, the technology seems excessive. Is making the math "easier" helping or harming the education? Children are using calculators younger and younger now and I am tempted to think, "why? I clearly learned math without one, why is it now so imperative that this technology is taught?" This is not to say that it should NOT be taught, but is the technology in some ways taking over?

Generally speaking, I think that technology is an aid to education. It is useful in an infinite number of ways but must be used correctly and intuitively. Technology should not be in place of other traditional forms of education. Here is another mini anecdote from my life. Before graduating from middle school each student was given a 12 inch x 12 inch block of wood and throughout our 8th grade year we all had to take a woodworks class and carve a plaque that would then be displayed on the walls in the school. My middle school opened in the early 1900's and you can see that the plaques from back then were so much more intricately carved than the ones from my year. This is not to say that ours were not nicely done, it is just a whole differnt kind of handy work. Is this because of technology that we have lost some of our creativity and use of our hands? How is the education of a child at age 2 having an iPad going to  be different than a person that did not use a computer until their mid 20's. I am beginning to notice just how much uncertainty there is in this field. It is clearly shown that there are both pros and cons to technology in education but where is the line drawn?