Well technology is neither good nor bad. It is only how it is used that can be judged. For years we have been told about the benefits of technology to education. Yet here is an article about whether to limit network access in a university classroom. The concern is what the students are doing with the internet access. Being an adult graduate student for the last 6 years I am pretty sure that most graduate students are there because they want to be and they want to learn. So where is the disconnect? Either the problem is much less wide spread than people think or for some reason the students are not engaged in the class.
The same kind of problem exists in business with blackberries. How many times have you been to a meeting where there are a number of attendees who spend the whole meeting dealing with there email? Is there email more important than the meeting? Maybe the meeting coordinator needs to think through who was invited to the meeting and if their role is important in the meeting. The bottom line is if technology is distracting people, maybe it is the technology and maybe it is what they are distracted from.