Also keep in mind that Eorzea has magic, and that it is much more prevalent then tech is. Why go through all the bother of designing the equivalent of a refrigerator when a bunch of ice crystals will do the job? Magic also has the advantage of being less complicated to a very large degree. It has less moving parts that need to be developed and maintained and has quite literally been around as long as everyone can remember and has never really stopped working.

It bears saying that the most advanced nation currently on Hydaelyn are the Garleans, in large part because the vast majority of their population can't manipulate magic. I think you could make a good case of magic being "anti-tech development" because in a lot of ways, it is a form of technology itself.