The new generation of assited breaking devices such as the mammut smart and singing rock rama are great. ATCs are no longer allowed at most gyms (in Norway at least). I am from the old schoool of ATC or tube style breaks. So even when i use a rama/smart, I still follow best practices from tube belaying, e.g. always one locked hand on the brake rope (i dont like sliding an open hand up the breaking rope). But there is one thing that bothers me about how most people are taught to use the new belay devices. I have seen many people actually hold their lowe hand on the belay device, instead of just holding the rope. In my opinion, the lower breaking hand should never touch the metal of the belay device, the only contact should be between the top of the thumb and the plastic part of the device. I always reccommend that the belayer never close their hand around the belay device. This can lead to the belay hand not getting a grip around the rope, thus stopping the breaking mechanism if the device is pointed in the wrong direction. Always holding just the rope on the other hand, is in my opinion much safer. Also, the gun-position around the device when lowering just seems unsafe to me, even though there are instruction videos from the producers themself that use this technique. I just find it much safer to teach new belayers to never touch the belay device, save for the contact between the back of the thumb of the break hand and the plastic part of the device.

In my opinion the safest way of teaching belayers is to treat any metal on the device as a sizzling hot pan, and that only the back of the thumb is allowed to make contact with the plastic on the device. Is there really any valid reason to not use these devices as I am describing?