As someone who spends an awful lot of his time working at 30,000 feet plus and traveling all over the world, away from his home and family, I actually take simple pleasure in these mindless but familiar tasks. It is my home and someone has to do them. They are only demeaning if you find life so.
Nothing stops anyone from doing all those things if they so choose. I never said anything about demeaning; they're just tedious for the most part. Technology is what you make of it.