Cogs and chains wear out, cables fray, batteries die, electronics get corroded.... plus ça change. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes. No reason to stop living and growing, right?
My reluctance to go electronic is two-fold. Not so much because I'm so afraid a battery might die at an inopportune time, but because I am generally frustrated by electronics - the drudgery of mechanical maintenance - cleaning a chain, etc. - pales in comparison to the nuisance of charging gadgets and worrying about batteries, and the fact that I can't SEE the defect makes it all that much more annoying. The other side is cost. No WAY would I spend that much on an electronic gadget!