Had a talk with an old-timer that made me rethink my whole brush setup

I mean, I was sweeping a house in Portland last Tuesday and the homeowner's dad was there, must have been 80, and he watched me set up my rotary brush and rods. He just laughed and said 'you kids never learned to read a flue with your hands first.' At first I thought he was just talking old school nonsense, but then he showed me how he used to run his gloved fingers along the liner to feel for cracks and soot patterns before ever picking up a brush. I've been doing this for 12 years and I always went straight to the equipment, never really felt the chimney first. Idk, it hit different because he wasn't being mean about it, he just showed me on his own chimney and I could actually feel a spot I would have missed. Has anyone else gone back to basics like that, or am I just falling for old timer nostalgia?