"Memory management isn't hard --- you just need to pay attention to detail"

You're quite right. The problem is that every bit of attention you spend on that detail is attention that you're not spending on details that are actually solving your problem.

I programmed in C for decades. I do not miss malloc() and free() in the least.

(I still do use C when the situation warrants, but the situations where it is warranted are becoming rarer and rarer with each passing year).