About to turn 48, but honestly I feel like I relate more to the 'old' riders now than the whippersnappers.
I've read much of but not this entire thread, and confirmed my suspicion that I am one of the few (if not only) still using toe clips, haha. During my formative mountain biking years, like for most of us, the choice was either clips or clipless. I loved the idea of clipless, but didn't want to be forced to wear riding shoes if I wanted to bike to the store or just cruise around town, so never went for it. Now, since I have always kept the straps really loose, for me clips offer the best of both worlds... never a problem getting out in a bail, pedals are not so grippy that my foot can't float around a bit, and I don't have much possibility of feet coming off. I don't know, I might try flats just for fun, since you never know, but just haven't felt super compelled when this still works great for me. Although, it is getting a lot harder to find clip-compatible pedals, which is a problem since mine do get pretty smashed up eventually.