It's not so bad if your automation tools have a really long shelf life, and if the time that you spend learning to use them can easily be reused for other things. i.e. If you use Linux command-line tools.
I've been managing my email using mutt and basically the same set of procmail scripts since around 1999, and I'll easily get at least another 10 years out of them, as long as people continue to use email.
About 2 years ago when I got my smartphone, I installed an IMAP server (dovecot), configured it to use my existing maildir tree, and then pointed my phone at that. I'll probably get at least 10 years out of that, too.
All of this pre-dates Android, iOS, GMail, Evernote, etc., and it'll probably outlive them.
I find that once you realize there's a problem that can be solved it's often the case that a solution is available if you look for it. My bank for instance makes it easy to set up automatic payment of most of my bills. Yet if I never realize that this is an annoyance that could be solved I wouldn't have gone looking for that "feature".
