Are we getting smarter? Or just think we are?

I am inclined to think that SOME of us are getting smarter. And those smarter people are thinking up ways to make us dumber.
Cars that do the watching for us, mobile devices that give us answers before we have to think of them, smart toilets, smart lights, smart ovens and toasters. Seems as though everything but the general public is getting smarter.
The brain is a muscle which we must excercise, test, use on a regular basis. And, people, we are not.
Despite all of this technology to help us get through life in a smooth and easy way - most of it is not helping us GET smarter, learn new things, apply new sciences. Most of it is training us - little by little - not to think at all.
If you asked someone I would be willing to bet that what I am saying is not the general opinion. That because we have become a technology based society that we are, therefore, smarter. Not when the technology has no other applicable features other than to help us communicate without speaking, know without learning, do without training - it is downright scary when you really think about it.
We have all of the information we need at our finger tips - learn how to build a birdhouse, fix a toilet, write a paper in a certain formatt - but what is the quality of this knowledge? Certainly we don't think that someone who has installed a fuacet by watching a YouTube video has the expertise and the knowledge of someone who has actually learned about and recieved training on the subject extensively.
Now - I am not saying that I am against DIY and instant knowledge - I myself love being able to find the answer to a question just by going to the ever faithful Google. But I am concerned that even my ability to think of the answers that I do know will soon fade and that everything will be questionable and of second hand learning. That soon the masses will be relying on a small population of still thinkers to provide all of the answers to general trivia, as well as life's problems. Real or percieved.