Honey bees can pretty much survive without us humans. Mainly what they need a beekeeper to do is keep an eye out for problems. Generally about 40 hours per SEASON is enough time a beekeeper needs to invest.
I'm no beekeeper
I'm just the wife of one so any beekeeping questions I can't answer I just ask my husband. I do garden for them though and there's plenty of articles in the Ideas section about the forage they like.
There are other members who keep bees or have kept them so I'm sure any questions you have will get answered.
I hope that pushes you off that fence on the side of getting the bees.