If you cannot reliably use your camera in manual, perhaps you shouldn’t tell others not to learn it, but instead spend time on consistency yourself. And yes, I shoot full manual- have since two months after getting my camera. And can, two years later, walk into a room and adjust my camera without even needing to look at the light meter to be pretty dead on exposure. While there are many important aspects to photography, you cannot neglect the technical ones either- and knowing your camera well enough to get a picture in whatever situation you are in, IMO, is the first step.
