I think, Danny42C, that we kids (and that includes you) were actually quite good at coping with new technology and a mass of semi-anonymous buttons and switches. Presented with all that cr@p, we knew what we needed to know. And certainly, in 'my truck', the ATCOs were pretty competent at diving into assorted tech bays to fix a problem almost instantly, instead if waiting for a techie to come across. There was a bay behind Bay 12 that was seriously high voltage, and there was something deep in on the right side, almost at floor level, that occasionally needed to be spoken to. I have no recollection of what it was, only that one was VERY careful putting an arm in there when everything was powered up.
The same way as you didn't maintain the engine of your VV. In the truck, the techies did some things, and we did a limited number of other things. And that symbiotic relationship that still exists ... "You can't have one without the other."
Perhaps looking at life through the wrong end if the telescope obscures the fact that when we were young we could do all sorts of amazing things ... You, and others here, certainly did!