Actually, I have complete confidence that the natural tendency for many human beings, when left to their own resources, is generally in the direction of dumbness. It has nothing to do with technology.

For example, I live very near the coast and often monitor the VHF marine frequencies, particularly on the weekends when all the dude boaters are out on the ocean. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the Coast Guard, or Sea Tow, or some other sea rescue agency ask a stranded boater for their position, and the boater can't provide the info. In other words, they either don't have a $100 GPS, or don't know that their GPS can provide them with coordinates that will more or less pinpoint their location. So, no, technology doesn't make these people dumber, these people can do it all by themselves. ;-)