I went solo in 1957. I went on to have a professional career lasting 48 years. I have witnessed the arrival of the first flight directors, LORAN C, triple INS, triplex autoland systems etc etc.
I have seen the flight deck population go down from five to just two.
Throughout all of this I have embraced modern developments in so far as I have assessed the new equipment that became available as to whether they make my life and my flying better or not.
Whilst all that was going on, I managed to keep touch with my beginnings and ran a gliding club in my spare time and flew every light aircraft that I could get my hands on.
I have now retired from professional flying and (some years ago) bought myself a spamcan. I fitted it with such equipment as a Garmin 430, DME, Mode S etc so that I can, if necessary, have a full IFR capability. I don't have all this gear fitted so that I can get myself into trouble but rather to get me out of trouble!
Now then, I will use everything that I can to make a safe flight. Therefore, I ALWAYS make a manual flight plan (using a whiz wheel etc) so that I always have something to fall back on just in case someone pulls the 3-pin plug out of the wall.
However, I ALWAYS programme the Garmin 430 and use it and its capabilities.
I always map read as I go along and, after 50 years of flying, I can also say that there are large parts of UK that I don't even need a map to tell you where I am.
Nevertheless, if you want to stay out of trouble, then the only possible way to stay out of trouble is to adopt the belt and braces method.
Use everything that is available to you and use it intelligently.