I've found that this question aptly describes the problem you had. This really isn't an isolated issue either, it's everywhere. Modern design is not user-oriented; it's developer-oriented.
This was already happening 100 years ago when workers were 'deskilled' to operate manufacturing machines efficiently, i.e. turning the worker into a 'trained gorilla' under so called scientific management.
It happens today when you talk to Google in a way that the search engine understands, not the way humans understand things, and it happens every time we use a technical device to get a task done. And the conflict here is not between developer and user, because developers are affected by this as well. A software developer adopts the limits of the compiler and the language she uses, the compiler does not adopt to the person. So tech workers are really just a rung up on the same ladder.
People in the software world were not entirely oblivious to this. Systems like Smalltalk were designed with the idea of turning human machine interaction into something more organic. Sadly, this idea seems to have been abandoned.
In general, I'd argue that this is not so much 'de-skilling' as 'learning how to use tools'
I mean, I'm sure that before shovels, people were way better at digging with their hands. Before bows, I'm sure we were way better at chasing down animals through strength and endurance.
Sometimes there are knock-on effects that aren't so good; cars may be making us less fit, (I personally think this is largely a problem preferences; most people prefer a density level that makes public transit not so practical, and are willing to pay a huge price for this in terms of lost time, traffic deaths, obesity, increased housing costs, etc...)
But the point is that these new tools usually make us better at the thing we're trying to do.
When I started working on cars in the late '90s, all I had were the manuals and exploded parts diagrams. It is difficult to overstate how much easier a repair becomes now that I can type a few words in and get a video of someone performing the exact repair I need on the exact same model of car. As a shadetree mechanic who isn't an expert with the exploded parts diagrams, this is a huge game changer.
I've even used the youtube to fix a laptop, something you'd expect me to be good at. (I'm no longer a professional hardware tech, but I was never a professional mechanic; go back far enough and I did fix laptops and other computer hardware for money) a friend had one of those fancy, thin Sony laptops; they tried to replace a keyboard and it wouldn't boot. they then took it to a repair place, who couldn't figure it out.
The exploded parts diagram was impossible. But I looked up on youtube, and found a detailed teardown and assembly. I followed along with the heavily accented voice, and the laptop booted up like new.
You could argue that in a bygone era, I would be more incented to figure out how to go from those line drawings to actual parts, to learn how to read those exploded parts diagrams. And you are right, of course; but I didn't, and because of modern tools, I'm better at fixing things than I would have been.
--Barack Obama