If you have a camera with a flipscreen and dont use it, I would assume that you are probably not very creative about what perspective your photographs can take. The flip screen is much more than just a gimmick and its good for much more than just "go down to your belly". The flip screen allows you to still see what you're doing for example if you hold the camera high above you, or press the camera to the wall, or try to make a picture of yourself. Without a flipscreen, you'll be completely blind in such situations, or will need quite elaborate schemes with a separate computer/monitor of some sort. And even going down on your belly will still not give you an as good overview over what you're doing than the flipscreen. Because with a flipscreen, you can really press the camera to the ground and still see perfectly your framing. Without the flipscreen, good luck trying that, your face will get in the way and leave no space for the fingers etc.
My D5100 flipscreen is still perfect a year after I bought the camera. The protection of my D600 screen was already full of scratches just a single week after I bought it. Also, on my D5100, the flipscreen is turned around most of the time. I dont need it. I take some pictures, check if everything is alright, then I flip it back and no longer bother with it. And I never have seen any thread in any of the photography forums I frequent that anyone had a damaged flip screen. Also, this argument is stupid by design. Cameras have freaking GLASS in them, for heavens sake. Before you damage your flipscreen, you will have a lot of other problems. You have to be careful with cameras, thats just how it is.
