Loss of hand flying skills is not new
Back in 1965 I was an F/O on the brand new B727-100 series Jet.
This was the first Jet Aeroplane most Domestic Airlines had in Australia and we did not have any simulators for a few years and even then they were only fixed base so there was one hell of a lot of learning to do.
I used to fly with some very wary old pilots who got their wings long before WW2 and really had to fly by the seat of their pants.
These guys had some incredibly interesting stories to tell.
One old chap used to make me hand fly this "new fangled beast " all the way until cruise and then all the way from Top of decent .
When I asked him " why " as we did have a good auto pilot , although with no Mach hold , he said " If you keep using that thing you will lose a lot of your hand flying skills after a while ".
So you see this concern about losing hand flying skill is not that new albeit modern aeroplanes do require more use of the autopilot .
The Old Dog was quite right in his assertions and it certainly enabled me to keep my skill level a bit higher for longer.
This was something I used to do wherever possible even up to my flying the A320 & 330.
It is a very wise Pilot who does listen to those who have been around long before they started flying.
Experience does not only come just with hours , it's coupled with what happened during those hours.