Fascinating topic. I am 45 and it wasn't until recently (about 1 year) that I started to use smart phones (only because it was a gift, I could not afford it). It has been a struggle to deal with whatsapp and groups and other social networks. I just can't.

I found this affirmation ironic

the rush to advance technology has created additional complexities and perhaps even misguided pursuits in order to create a less ambiguous world in which we can control and predict more easily future outcomes. (my emphasis)

As you rightly pointed out, the result is the opposite. It has to be.
If anything, technology has turned us into more ambiguous and paradoxical creatures. We boast about being interconnected when we are more and more isolated. The larger our presence in the world via the virtual possibilities of the social networks, and the more followers we have, the harder it becomes to created real connections and real relationships, not only because of the obvious physical distance but because of the artificaility of the communication generated by the virtual forums.
We can see it here in Steemit. We are encourage to create and be part of communities, but the more communities we belong to, the harder it becomes to actually know the members of those communities and genuinely have significant interactions with them.
And then, even with the few members of these communites we may end up interacting with relative frequency, that interaction is always mediated by the virtual tools and subject to a certain level of artificiality.
I was very excited when people reported their experiences in the receny Steem fest because i could vicariously share what it must be like to actually meet those fellow steemians we might have been interacting for months but now on a human, real plane.