All the resources I follow suggest the seed phrase or mnemonics be used to create the back up for your address rather than the private keys, so would it be commendable to use the private keys instead or is it a way to protest against the status quo?

If you insist on using your private keys and intend to store actual funds there, I would suggest also keeping a back up of the seed phrase as a secondary means if recovering your address. I cannot see the downsides of that besides providing more security for your Bitcoins.