@healthyrecipe Good day, my friend. I also had few toys growing up and I look at that as a great blessing. My brother and I used our imaginations. One of the philosophies that my dad instilled in me was: work hard, play hard, and love hard. So, for me, the journey has always been more important than the destination.
When I was in Malawi, few had electricity. Virtually, no one had all the things that clutter peoples' lives. But they had warm hearts. We were all one big family. Things mess up the essential being of people. This is why I advocate sustainable living and utilizing low-tech as much as possible. I do find refrigeration, electricity, and computers to be productive. If I am in a hot climate, then I NEED AC.
Oh yes, I would be dead I think with out AC lol. I also find use in all of the things you mentioned for sure. I do not overlook the blessing of being able to communicate with cultures from all over the world with out having to immediately take a flight some where to find out what they live like. I just think we have to pick and choose how much we let in and learn how to be very grateful for all we have. Never take what we have for granted and that allows us to be happy and satisfied with out wanting to fill a big never ending void with things.