I know how to dead reckon, but don't do it. I also know how to use a sextant and using the celestial tables, triangulate my position, but I don't do that either. I do carry paper charts for the areas I travel and I always track my position on the chart plotters and confirm it visually. In the delta, the fog can form quickly and in pockets, so those old forms of navigation on the serpentine rivers and shallow sloughs can be inadequate.
Last Tuesday I was traveling down the Mokelumne River in 1 mile visibility. No problem, I thought. As I turned east onto the San Joaquin River, the visibility quickly fell to 1/16 mile as measured on the channel markers as I passed them downstream. I pulled into 3-mile slough and crept my way toward Brannan Island State Park, barely able to see the shore a couple hundred feet away. Once in the safe waters of the no wake zone near the park, I dropped anchor and waited more than an hour for the fog to dissipate. If I was on the river trusting old methods, I could have quickly found myself aground on a shoal or shore.
This picture shows river debris found on the Sacramento River in approximately 1/2 mile visibility which no electronics can help me avoid, but it also shows that the shore is barely visible under these conditions. My radar was cluttered with echoes of debris and hyacinth floating down the river, easily masking other river boat traffic to the untrained eye.
To me, radar, multiple chartplotters and great attention were required under these conditions to safely navigate. Am I a slave to technology? Some would say yes. I say I'll use it to safely operate my vessel in less than optimum conditions. Without the digital edge, I would have had to anchor near the main river channel hoping to avoid being overrun as my horn sounded every two minutes.
Due to electrical interferences from fans, wipers and radios, I find my GPS compass to be much steadier and more accurate/reliable than my whiskey compasses. I cross check to get a relative deviation between the two, but rely on the electronics to guide me when the going gets rough.