Every hour you spend messing around with software is one hour you did not spend with your instrument in your hand. I think several of us are more interested in playing music than recording music. We record it because we need to, not because we like to.
+1
If you're North of 50 you realize we all have too little of a major entity; that entity is
time.
And if you choose/try to learn some music theory (like me), that's another consumer of your limited and precious time.
This is all a personal thing for each of us.
So for me the question is how do I get maximum bang (maximum improvement and maximum fun) with each hour invested.
I may have one answer this year and a slightly different one next year . . .