It definitely does take effort and some amount of commitment to keep up with, especially if one has a lot of modded content. For some (me, for one) it's simply part of how they play, and it isn't really considered as an either-or kind of thing. That doesn't mean that there are never problems, but solving them is part of the reward for that kind of gaming lifestyle. If a player doesn't want to deal with that, it's certainly better to play the way they do want, because no way is "right" or "wrong" except in direct relation to each individual's enjoyment.
I don't necessarily think that mods make Sims 4 "better" (that's too personal an opinion to be truly objectified) but I do know that I'd have no interest in playing it any longer if I could no longer mod it. I've already played it vanilla and it was okay for a while, but it's just not quite the kind of game that keeps me interested long-term. Modding it helped to change that, which is why I'm still at it. At least for now. :)
