I'm in the weird position of been a programmer who likes computers and dislikes basically all other consumer technology (phones, laptops, consoles, most domestic smart devices etc).
I don't like interruptions, technology serves the user not the other way around and should always be pull not push (in my personal opinion).
I think everything peaked in 2014, phones were firmly "second" devices and there was a lower expectation that people were glued to them constantly.
Laptops had crappy batteries and performed significantly worse for more money, so were only used by the dedicated. (or, the rich in the case of some software devs in SV/London).
Most people still had desktops and using computers was its own "thing", then you went away and lived your life.
Now we're terminally online, internet culture is the pervading culture of the west... I've never liked computers less than now... but I still love computers :(
Normally I'd laugh when I see a silly typo like that, but nowadays it's refreshing to see a thoughtfully human-written article with little imperfections here and there.
I simply don't have the space to dedicate a room for one specific function. I'd love to be able to e.g. have a guest/living room with no tech, an office room for working, etc on top of separate bedrooms for everyone, but that's only possible now in older houses starting at €600,000 in the more remote parts of the country.
Being intentional is hard, and a little friction helping it is welcome. But I do hope for myself that I can be intentional in everything that I do (this includes having fun, being with family, and even doomscrolling).
Any limitations on smartphones are either ergonomic or entirely artificial.
Assigning tasks to devices can be done due to the capabilities of each device but also due to other factors, like what behaviour you want to influence. For example, if you want to spend less time doom-scrolling/on social media/whatever, moving these tasks outside of the computer you have in your pocket and into the computer you need to sit in front of helps.
In fact, it kind of runs the other way: even my "portable" "real" computer is terrible as, say, a camera, or level. It's a bad GPS navigation device, both due to the form factor and it's entirely lacking the hardware for it (technically they can have this, but very few do).
There are lots of things my phone can do that even my laptop, let alone my desktop, practically can't.
We discussed a bit and while doing so I pullet out both my paper notepad, my phone but also my XR headset (which just happened to be in my backpack). I also use a bottlecap to sketch in the sand.
My point : anything, literally anything, goes. You can have the best of tools yet think poorly about the most pointless problem. You can have nothing at all, no tool, being in the middle of a very noisy place... and still tackle this brilliantly. If you are flexible and if you tailor YOUR tools to YOUR usage, anywhere and anything should be "good enough".
TL;DR: thinking happens in the mind and only optionally extending it via tools.
When I noticed I could program on it it definitely expanded my horizon. I was not bound to a desk though and I programmed anywhere. It was a very excited feeling, still is. It does NOT mean being available 24/7 for others though.
FWIW I do also have a computer room with a tower desktop. It's very convenient. I'm not convinced I do my best thinking there. It's mostly convenient to execute, to drill. The actual thinking though happens anywhere, I don't really get to decide where and when.
> My primary computer is now a desktop with a large monitor, ...
I own several laptops: they're simply inferior computing devices due to their mediocre screen and pathetic keyboards. I'm laying on the couch while typing this on a laptop. That's what it's good for.
My actual workstation has a 38" ultra-wide. Wife's got, in our office room, next to my ultra-wide 38" monitor, a desktop setup with three monitors. She likes screen real-estate too. We've got a T-shaped shared desk, with the multifunction printer/scanner in the middle, "separating" us.
But that's not all: I've got a 38" ultra-wide that does 3840x1600 and there are 12 virtual desktops on it, all carefully arranged.
Friends of mine had a company doing 3D and post-prod for ads and short movies: I don't even remember ever seeing one laptop at their company.
To me a laptop is a stamp-sized version of a desktop: it's asking Da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa on a stamp.
Do I, at times, do actual work on my 17" LG Gram laptop (a very sweet and very light laptop)? Yes. But I hate every second of it.
It's really not to "compartiment" your life and not always be connected that you should prefer your own chair, your own desk, your gigantic screen real-estate and your fat desktop to a laptop: it's because it's a superior way of working.
Invest in a good chair. Invest in a good keyboard. Invest in big monitor(s). You'll thank me later.
P.S: you're excused if you hook a powerful laptop to a proper keyboard, a proper mouse and fat monitor(s). But then that's basically a desktop.
P.P.S: as a bonus your desktop can use a good old wired Internet connection.
This is the kind of problem that can be remedied using a cable and a suitable docking station, anytime you are near the desk.
I think, weirdly, the problem with modern laptops is the opposite - the screens and keyboards (particularly on flagship models) are good enough that 90% of the time you don't need the 38" monitor or the mechanical keyboard. Which leads to them invading spaces far from your desk, like your couch, or your bed...