To emacs user, not knowing that magit is emacs is worth a down vote prima facie :)
I share your horror for GUIs ineffectively hiding the version control reality; but then, despite being an emacs and casual magit user, I still mostly git add files one by one, having git diff the files one by one, and assembling the changed files into coherent groups.
I have a keyboard dance that feels like choreography or maybe, at this point, ritual prayer.
There are definitely shortcuts I could take in some scenarios but walking the safe path even though it's a little longer is the sane response especially when you can type as fast as most of us and you've been using a bourne shell as long as I have.
Or if I'm being more charitable, it's about staying outside the yellow tape lines on the factory floor. No exceptions.
I share your horror for GUIs ineffectively hiding the version control reality; but then, despite being an emacs and casual magit user, I still mostly git add files one by one, having git diff the files one by one, and assembling the changed files into coherent groups.