I fell 20 times the FIRST time I attempted to go clipless. 20 times in 3 days, and one of those falls garnered me a light concussion because I hit my head (yes, I had a helmet on - and got a new helmet out of it).

To make a long story short, I waited 6 months and tried it again, but THIS time it was a non-event. For me the initial problem was that I hadn't ridden long enough to get all of the starting/stopping/etc into my muscle memory and clipping in just added a level of complexity that I wasn't yet ready for. I LOVED my BMX pedals though, and never regretting riding good platform pedals. I tried to ride a gazillion miles on those things, I think my goal that first year was to ride 10k miles. It looked like it

You don't HAVE to go clipless, that is entirely up to you - and nothing said that you can't try again at some other time. The type of pedal matters, I hated the SPD pedals, but love my Speedplay Froggies