How much better was it back in the day

Here is a video of a 5 year old driving a manual transmission.
Liveleak.com - Trucker Kid

Sorry man, it's not a barrier to entry and it's not 'keeping the #######' out. Sure, it appears intimidating to anyone that has never driven it before but once they do it for a few hours it's nothing.

 

It’s like anything else. Some people catch on and learn to shift a manual truck like a pro and you have long term drivers who shift a truck like
#### . They ridie the clutch, taking off in way too high a gear because they’re lazy , not down shifting before a curve when they should, miss
Shifts when climbing a steep hill with a heavy load. Driving for a long time doesn’t make you good if you don’t have the skills and your lazy and don’t care. It’s just like being a person , being older and experienced doesn’t make everyone a better person , some people are good , or become better , other people suck no matter how much life experience they have.
The driver pool today definitely has been dumbed down, and the industry has done that to fill more seats .