Good post, OP. I agree with some of your thoughts, many times. Although I love getting upgrades, lounge access for free, elite boarding, and all the little perks, the time and energy invested into this whole endeavor is quite significant.

For an 11 hour flight to get into business from economy, I probably invest way more than 11 hours total time to get that upgrade. I dont know if it's worth it sometimes, the mental anguish, time looking for NC availability, searching on FT, etc. I spend way too much time with this stuff, so I wonder if my time is just better spent doing other things and sitting in the back of the bus.