When new developments are made in computer graphics technology or UX research, I want to be able to take advantage of them. I don't want to limit myself to a design based on the state of the art in 2006 just to avoid having to learn anything new.
I mean I'm not against new and better ways to interact with a computer, I just like to decide on my own if I want to use the new and shiny thing or not. Fuzzy searching is probably the most significant improvement I opted in in the last couple of years, and it's used basically everywhere on my desktop, while all the "modern" desktop systems like GNOME, Windows 10, macOS, ... still barely make any use of it and their search implementations sometimes even worsened from my point of view (Windows 10).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command-line_completion#Histor...
Another related feature that I wish some Linux gui framework would adopt is the concept of global keybindings. Every menu in every app in macOS displays by default the shortcut key next to it - if one exists.
These are the kinds of features that are easy to overlook but contribute hugely to the "cohesive" feeling that macOS advocates so often seem to have trouble describing to Linux desktop users.
Realistically I suspect that at the end of the day the people who are getting things done aren't jumping on every shiny new trend. BUT they also they aren't spending weeks on end tweaking all of their configurations to make them perfect.
I didn't make some grand decision to use emacs (I assume mentioning emacs is what upset you). When I installed linux for the first time the instructions were to use vi or emacs to edit files. I couldn't figure out how to quit vi so after a hard power cycle I use emacs today. It turns out though that if you use a tool for long enough and make small tweaks occasionally it adds up. My environment suits me perfectly. Maybe you would hate it but that's fine too.
Whatever floats your boat. Why be so dogmatic? Why not use a little of the tried and true and mix in a bit of the hip new thing?
For example, are you using twm? xterm? Admittedly those are only 30 years old but I don't know any older examples that are still supported.