I cringed when I heard that too.
You'd think the 60 year old airline captain would know a little bit more about what works than those who are "up with the latest technology".
Just shows the contempt the management and marketing types hold for the folks with the real operational knowledge and experience.
They always think they know better, hence we have a side stick on th airbus that doesn't give feedback to the other pilot about what imputs are being applied.
CRM at its finest, take the other guy out of the loop by design.