That is not true at all. You actually have devices meant to control machines using the one power. Remember that thin helmet in Ebou Dar? You would not need a Ter'angreal for such a mundane purpose if they had the tech to do without the one power. Plus countless little mundane Ter'angreal we find scattered all over the place. The fact that many Ter'angreal can be used by those without the power means they where meant to supplement technology. Many but not all Aes Sedai where craftsmen/women. What did they craft? Ter'angreal I suspect.

Almost everything they did was dependent on the one power that is the exact reason why they felt so limited with the current male/female dynamic to tap into a new source of power that both men and women could use equally. When the Aes Sedai opened the bore into the dark one's prison their society very quickly collapsed over the next 100 years to the point they where back to the level of the 1600s in our era with remnants of the past technological age like weapons and cars still around but so rare most people used carts and swords.

If society was not dependent on one power users and their miracle magic powers then yes society would have regressed but never that big of a step backwards.

I would also argue that the Aes Sedai completely choked out mundane people without the one power from the political process as well. Making the vast majority of people unintended slaves to their political will. They were benevolent masters but masters non the less otherwise so many normal people would have never worked against them and willingly went to the shadow. Something was fundamentally wrong with society before the age of legends collapsed otherwise roughly one half of the channelers would have not went over to the shadow on their own.