So you don't need to keep up on everything to be a good engineer. On the contrary, the best engineers I know stick to one thing long enough to know it deeply, while keeping a light eye on what is new in order to understand when it is worth learning a new skill. It is OK not to do everything. And best practices are not as clear as that term makes it seem - "best" is subjective. Different projects have different needs, so it is good to know what worked for others, but you still need the deep knowledge to make your own decisions.
I don't think the work is any harder now than it was a couple decades ago. But there are a lot more distractions now, so being comfortable with prioritizing where you want to spend your energy is a bigger task that it used to be.