a few points to add here.

1. This discussion has mentioned a number of distinctly different tools.  Not all our values are the same for these "tool systems".  By tool systems I mean tools for: comfort, navigation, safety, connectivity(phones/radios -- but SPOT falls under safety).  I submit it is entirely appropriate to view connectivity tools differently than safety tools.

2. Do not confuse the mechanism with its effectiveness. In TomT oirignal post, he said " I can remember getting into Ely in the 80's or 90's and buying a local paper just to have the latest weather forecast before my put in the next day.  I remember closely reading the few books available for any reference to decent campsites."  In other words, he used the best tools to get as much information as possible.  The information he got was orders of magnitude better than what someone 200 years earlier could have used.  It is also order of magnitude less than what one can get now.  The problem is not technology. The issue is for a tool system, does getting the best available information not the ideal.  (My personal preference for connectivity is that is a tool system I do not want at all.  Not a cell phone, not a radio, not smoke signals, not a conversation with a passerby.  One of the pleasures for me of such a trip is to leave the "real world" behind. But for safety, I want the most cost-effective tool available.  Certainly I want something better than smoke signals.  With increasing risk from age and with lower prices now, something like SPOT is now cost-effective.   

3. With respect to navigation, ST commented "I do that on purpose so people can invest a little sweat equity finding them" and "There is something real/tangible and to me satisfying looking over a well used paper map".  I react differently.  Again technology is not a villain here.  The question is do you want mroe information if it is available.  I do.  I do not settle for one map, I want as many maps as I can get.  I want input from other trippers. I want digital maps. I too like paper maps.  To me digital maps are just as real and tangible as paper, just a different medium.  And do not talk to me about sweat equity, at least as I define sweat equity.  One of the joys of all these tools is you can use them before and after your trip.  I put in hours upon hours of planning (as many of you do) before a trip.  That extends the length of the trip significantly because those hours become part of the trip experience.  Using a variety of tools  provides a wider pallette to that trip extension.  And once on the trip, just because the tools gives lots of information, that does not mean one has to become a slave to it.  More information does not preclude exploration, be it out of curiousity or necessity.