Criteria for happiness

I barely recall going through an essay with my kids awhile ago. It was on the standard of living and how technological advancements have affected it. There was this happy idea that technology was creating dependency and this dependency somewhat reduces our standard of living.
In trying to reason it all out, I suggested that maybe, the whole idea of dependency was about having multiple criteria to our happiness. So i asked them "is a happiness which is less contingent better?" unanimously, "yes" There we have it, I concluded, it's about technology, through our cellphones, internet and such, imposing criteria upon our lives. Imposing. wow. These criteria forcibly made our happiness more fragile than ever, and subsequently, even if we can recall happy times, we have somehow forsaken a superior standard of living.
With you, it is as such. I can recall, if I want, the happy times we're spending together. Sometimes I even feel as though life has taken a pleasant turn. But deep down within me, as every second passed without you, my heart falters and almost tastes the loneliness of damnation. And I recall the harsh reality underlying our every interaction. If you don't, all these will be for naught.
 But I cannot imagine the day, when it comes, where for his sake I've to see you as a friend. Neither can I picture, when it comes, having the rehabilitate myself from you. Neither do I have the faith (be it deserved or undeserved) to picture us together. All the glory I've set for my future, falls like a terrible, tried-too-hard pile of useless scrap before you.
 When I think about it, you, one of my criteria, has made my life a lot more miserable. I may attempt to show otherwise, or to describe my life in another fashion.
I may emphasize the better times but it's only because I fear you'll retreat at the sound of this. I fear you may be thinking that people were only meant to be if they colour each other with bright shades... that if somehow they bring the grey and gloomy skies... they were not meant to be. But for me, a happy life isn't all there is to the standard of living. It's about feeling happy and sad at the ordinate times.
If I am to think that I'm somewhat missing the good life, it is this: That I rarely feel the robustness of Joy in the absence of you. And that to me, is the explanation for how everything is happening.