I had a Mustang and three Rx7's that were all sticks so I have several hundred thousand miles of drive time shifting gears, and it was ok back then but I dont miss it a bit. Back in the 80's when I was learning to drive if you had a small engine you needed a manual to get any decent acceleration out of it. Got better mpg's too, and in many or most cases they lasted longer. These days with even the most pedestrian 4 cyl engines putting out HP numbers that rival or surpass 70's, 80's and even some 90's era V8's, and getting 30+ mpg's doing it, I dont see the point. A lot of cars today if you compare the MPG's and acceleration numbers, many automatics outperform their standard shift counterparts. If you like shifting for yourself and find it fun or more 'in control', I dont fault people one bit for feeling that way, but beyond that, I dont see too many compelling arguments in favor of them anymore, other than people who learned to drive on them and just prefer them.
I find most modern automatics light years ahead of anything built even 10-15 years ago. A few fluid changes early in their life and most will outlive the chassis they are installed in, they shift smoother and faster than most people could manually, and since I dont have to worry about shifting I can use my free right hand to hold my beer, tickle my wifes knee, check my Facebook with my phone held down low, and pull the onions off my double McWhopper while not having to worry about grabbing a shift lever or having to think about what gear I am supposed to be in as I narrowly miss running over the construction worker four feet over the line standing in the berm. Whats not to like?
I do agree that standard shift is a great anti-theft. Finding anyone under age 50 who can drive a stick is getting pretty rare. I'm glad I still know how to do it, but honestly in the last 20+ years other than driving the neighbors new Vette I cant think of a single time where I needed to know how to do it.