There is probably some truth in that.
Here is what my company says under the section Autopilot / Autothrottle Policy:
Continuous use of automatic system leads to loss of basic knowledge of power settings/pitch attitudes and reduces the ability to fly accurately with a low workload. Pilots should therefore regularly fly the aircraft manually, with emphasis on manual departures/approaches with and without the flight director.
It goes on to say that it should be briefed and preferrably done in low traffic situations.
In the real world there is a mixture of pilots, some like to fly from 400ft AGL til 500ft AGL on automatics and get quite nervous when they're close to their next sim check, some like to fly manually until cruise altitude and do it without flight director every flight. Most of us like to do visual approaches whenever possible, not only because it saves quite a bit of time and fuel, but mostly because it is a lot of fun. Many do flight director off approaches quite regular and in general the manual handling skills are not that bad. However it is quite different on the airbus fleet where flight director off approaches are pretty much unheard off.