craftgrrl | hand-sewing vs. machine sewing: what's the deal? (Reply)

All right, this may be a dumb question, but it's one of those things that's hard to google. Simply put, I hate sewing machines. I have one, but I find it confusing, and I really don't like mechanical things or power tools. I much prefer to sew by hand, and this is how I was taught to sew by my grandmother.

So the question: why do most people nowadays use a sewing machine?

is it a) just because it's so much faster, b) because it can look a bit "neater", or c) does a sewing machine actually create garments/objects that are more durable than those sewn by hand? It's the last one that I'm worried about. Of course, any seam can come apart, but is there any way to make a hand-sewn seam as strong as a machine-sewn one?

Thanks in advance! I was going to post pics, but I couldn't think of any that would be remotely relevant, so I figured better to have no pics than to have pics of jewelry in a question post about sewing;).