If you Google “manual transmission in the US,” you will find a number of articles discussing the rapidly falling percentage of Americans who know how to drive a stick. You will see columns and blog posts rattling off the benefits of driving an automatic – scoffing at reasons why anyone in their right mind would ever want to learn such a skill. Most of the articles express the idea that because driving manual is not practical, it must go.

Blame it on the recession, blame it on global warming, blame it on the war – whatever you choose to blame it on, we have become a nation obsessed with practicality and precision. Everything needs to be 100 percent efficient and necessary all the time. Anything but is simply an inconvenience. If you choose to purchase a manual car, you’re simply making life difficult for someone else who will inevitably have to drive it someday.

This is the view held by many critics of manual transmissions in the US.  It is a view that says, “Hey, I don’t want to take the time to learn how to do that and I can’t see any use for it so we should eliminate the option altogether.” It’s a view that urges people to remain comfortable and complacent.

In today’s society, for an endeavor to be worthwhile (stick shift or otherwise) there has to be a solid, scientific reason why. There is no room for frills like “fun” or “satisfaction.” Everything is binary. An argument for something is only valued if it can be calculated in numbers and percentages (gas mileage, manual cars purchased, etc.) And while this system maximizes productivity, it takes all the personality out of everyday activities such as driving.

Today, most people would probably say that they drive simply to get from point A to point B. They care very little about what they drive and much less what kind of transmission it has, provided it’s already an automatic. While they may develop a sentimental attachment to the vehicle, they fail to really bond with it. After a lifetime of obeying speed limits and timid, precise driving, the car dies and gets replaced with another just like it.

But isn’t there more to driving than that? You don’t have be a motoring enthusiast to think so. Anyone who has ever put their foot down on an empty interstate late at night or accelerated between the lights is proof of this. Driving can evoke special feelings in people when not viewed as simply a means to an end. There’s something special about redlining each of the gears in a car from naught to max that not enough people get to experience – a feeling that can’t be expressed numerically.

And this is the problem with trying to make everything easier and more practical. It kills the magic. Sure driving automatic cars might be more fuel-efficient. It’s probably easier and doesn’t involve as many technicalities too, but there’s no art to it. There’s no finesse.

There are certainly benefits to easing the human experience through the use of technology. Fewer expenses, less time learning unnecessary skills and the general simplification of tasks – all good things. However, it is important to hang on to certain aspects of the human experience as they enhance it. Driving stick may not go down in history as the skill that defined a generation, but it is certainly a craft that has given some integrity and significance to driving over the years.

Throughout recorded history, our species has continually adapted, readapted and improvised to make our lot in life just that little bit better. But we must be mindful of what we stand to lose from some advancement. There is a fine line between automation and innovation that too often gets crossed. Day to day tasks are becoming too easy.