Depends on the task. I've used more new stuff in the last few years than the previous decade and I'm 46. But I fully appreciate the tradeoffs.

No shiny objects is the rule. But break it if it's an obvious (necessary?) improvement and you know how to inject new technologies safely.

When you only have one principle to worry about, life is simple. More than one, you're always trading something off.

When desperately want to impress and get impressed. When we are younger our toolset and vision are limited so we try to achieve that through an exploration of non-mainstream tools and techniques. As we gain seniority our goals are getting on a higher and higher level, so we want to unload some of the lower-level stuff to concentrate on the higher-level stuff and the safest and easiest way to do that is to rely on established tools and practices.

I mean, if you want to capture the market of American tourists in France you wouldn't want to spend too much time on whether to use Oracle or MongoDB. Yes, the technical debate is interesting and these new kids do interesting things but you have been through many debates and know the arguments and none of that has to to with your higher level goals.

I’d hope so. I know, in my case, I’m more productive working with the stack that I know well and that works well, even if it’s not bleeding edge, or even cutting edge. I’ve looked at React, et al, and they’re cool, but I’m just faster with jQuery and, anyway, I’m not working on the type of apps that React is preferred for. Plus I’m not throwing the rest of the team in front of the bus, just so I can be all shiny and new.

I am not sure how old you are but it could be that when you were young, there were no mature and stable technologies to choose from to begin with :D

Yes. It means you've been around long enough to have been burned by following the latest trend.

I vet heavily, because I finally have the experience to do so.