I think that you're noticing that automation does not require that the overseer ever develop the skills required to perform the task manually; drivers don't have to learn how to maintain constant speed for hours on end, pilots don't have to develop the endurance to maintain altitude and heading. There is an element of skill atrophy, and of encouraging distractions, and the distractions are likely to result in worse immediate responses to the failure of automation; the skill (responding to emergencies) would have atrophied anyway.