The problem I see with these "modern" command replacements is 1) muscle memory and 2) I have to log into some old systems that simply will not have anything this "modern".
An alias in your favorite shell's .rc file solves the first problem. Better yet, you can throw it behind a test block to ensure you never get a command not found error:
test -f /usr/bin/exa && alias ls='/usr/bin/exa'
The second problem is solved by configuration management tools pushing out your desired tools to your entire environment.
Which work well until your "entire environment" is some new-fangled ARM/SuperH/(etc.) board, and your configuration management tool is x86_64-only and/or not-in-the-repo of the only distro specialized enough to support that new-fangled board.
