The current generation of senior pilots learnt on and flew aircraft with little in the way of reliable automation and may therefore be prejudiced against relying too much on automatics.
The new generation of twenty year olds are getting used to reliance on increasingly reliable automation. As this generation move through, expect to see less manual flying.
Times change, we now have more reliable engines and allow ETOPS. Anyone fancy being three hours from an airport with a pair of PW R1830s or Wright Cyclone motors ?
Down the track expect to see automatics being a no go item and failure of the auto thrust being practiced for in the sim just like we practice engine failures.