I was wondering if anyone else out there is like me? I have an iPhone 16PM and MacBook Air. I had an Apple Watch several years ago, but sold it because I really didn’t see the point. I keep my iPhone on me everywhere so what’s the need for the watch? With that said, I pretty much use my iPhone for everything I do because it’s nearby and convenient even at home. My MacBook has really only been for grad school work and professional things. My iPhone is my main device and I love it! 😁
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iPhone as main device
- Thread starter GomerBoy
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There are plenty of people like you. I am not one of them however. I find it irritating to have to take my hands off keyboard and mouse to pick up my phone and do something I could have done better and faster on my Mac.
I'm not putting you down. We are all different, it's just my preference is for dedicated devices for specific purposes. See the link in my signature that says 'Six Displays'.
I'm not putting you down. We are all different, it's just my preference is for dedicated devices for specific purposes. See the link in my signature that says 'Six Displays'.
Different strokes....
There are some tasks that are better on a computer as opposed to a phone. Taxes come to mind. But I can see relying on the phone for most everyday stuff. I take my MacBook Air on travel, but it often stays in the backpack.
There are some tasks that are better on a computer as opposed to a phone. Taxes come to mind. But I can see relying on the phone for most everyday stuff. I take my MacBook Air on travel, but it often stays in the backpack.
For me, I'm willing to admit it's habit. My first computer was in 1980 when I was 9. There has always been some sort of 'desktop' in my house from the TRS-80 to my current Mac Pro. And since 2000, I have always sought to attach more than one monitor. I prefer large displays, especially for viewing video/movies. And as large as the largest phones Apple makes, they will never have the physical dimensions of my 55" HDTV. Or the next larger HDTV whenever I buy that.
But my habit isn't anything I'm willing to break. I like what I like and I am much more comfortable with a keyboard and mouse than I am pecking at a screen.
From what I have observed in what is known as 'real life' outside of MR, (shudder the thought as I had to get vaccinated before going outside to talk to the kids on my lawn) It appears most young people use their phone as their single main device, unlike us MR nerds who seem to have a device for every room in the house and at least 2-3 on the go devices.
I think what is interesting is also how environment might influence this. My son is Gen-Z. He turned 21 in October 2024. But he has had a laptop style computer since he was 5. Because we do use laptops in this house. He's going for an IT degree as well. He has an iPhone, but he uses it like I do. All the things he normally does are on his laptop.
My daughter is a little different (she's 16), but she's forced to use only her phone because I haven't replaced the laptop she killed when she spilled juice all over it. But before that, she was also laptop oriented.
This stems from my way of using devices. If I'd been primarily just a phone user for all things that may have influenced them.
That is a very good point and you may very well be right in many ways for the Gen-Z group. I see so many people addicted to their phone (and probably social media as well) that it has become Linus' blue blanket for them.
From what I have seen and read, in countries where people on average have less disposable income than in North America, one device ownership is very common. And of course that device is a phone. So most of those people want a large display phone as they do everything on it. This is unfortunate for people like me who find current phones too big and would prefer smaller ones.
I have a 15pm, iPad, two personal windows laptops, powerful windows desktop and work laptop. Company allows access to work assets via personal assets with appropriate software installed.
I like having computers around me. YMMV. My phone is not nearly enough to carry on with my day job even though I can connect a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to the phone.
I like having computers around me. YMMV. My phone is not nearly enough to carry on with my day job even though I can connect a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard to the phone.
I don't personally like being that connected, so I use my phone sparingly. I need to be able to work without being connected, and I need to be unavailable.
Did you create this post from your iPhone? I am not making fun, I am genuinely asking because I use my phone for a lot of things but some stuff I feel I have to be on a computer or at least the iPad. One example, is coming here to this page, I can't do it from my phone lol.
When I was 14 (1985) I attended my first ever Commodore User Group meeting with my mom. That UG had a BBS and in finding out what that was, finding out about modems and being able to be connected to other people opened a floodgate for me. Up until then I was stuck by myself in a rural community with no access to my friends 30 minutes away except during school hours.
After that time, I have NEVER been unconnected. Whether it's my generation or just me, I have the ability to tune out distractions and ignore other people when I don't want to be disturbed. Outside of work hours (I work from home) this is really easy for me to do.
But for me, there has to be some sub-level minimum connection or I get anxiety. Perhaps it's just me personally, but I need to know that life is happening outside my four walls or those walls start to close in on me. Possibly, that latchkey generation thing, a fear of being alone. I like my solitude, but not disconnection.
Phones are the main device of most people honestly.
Even people who have and use laptops and tablets and desktops, even if they use them more at the moment.
But if you had to get rid of everything except for one tech device, don’t lie. It would be the phone.
Even if it’s not an iPhone, it would be some sort of phone.
Even for the rare people who get cellular for their tablets and use that as their only device… it’s still basically a phone.
Even people who have and use laptops and tablets and desktops, even if they use them more at the moment.
But if you had to get rid of everything except for one tech device, don’t lie. It would be the phone.
Even if it’s not an iPhone, it would be some sort of phone.
Even for the rare people who get cellular for their tablets and use that as their only device… it’s still basically a phone.
I would say my iPad Pro M4 is the device I use most. Probably 2 to 1 over all my other devices. Macs and ThinkPad for work only. iPhone for communications and photos on the go. And iPad for all consumption and personal computing. The iPad Pro is amazing in the Magic Keyboard cover, without the cover by itself and sometimes with the Pencil Pro. I have the 11” version as I wanted it to be portable. Fits in a sling or my briefcase and goes with me everywhere. Much prefer it over the iPhone. I see in developing countries where people mainly use their smartphone as personal device and probably use a computer at work only as in they don’t have a computer or tablet.
I am getting to where I really only use the iPhone when on the go and communicating with others (phone calls, messages or any communications app). On occasion, when on the go I will use it over my iPad, but it has to be because I truly don’t have time to get the iPad out as just have a few minutes; if I am going for ten minutes or more going to use the iPad.
I do type faster on the iPhone than iPad with no keyboard attached. The iPad by itself has a terrible touch keyboard as it’s too wide to use for that. My MacBook Pro is obviously the ideal work device mobile. Giving a presentation or meeting clients, always the MBP. Personally, always the iPad Pro. Communicating always the iPhone. Typing - writing - almost always the ThinkPad.
I am getting to where I really only use the iPhone when on the go and communicating with others (phone calls, messages or any communications app). On occasion, when on the go I will use it over my iPad, but it has to be because I truly don’t have time to get the iPad out as just have a few minutes; if I am going for ten minutes or more going to use the iPad.
I do type faster on the iPhone than iPad with no keyboard attached. The iPad by itself has a terrible touch keyboard as it’s too wide to use for that. My MacBook Pro is obviously the ideal work device mobile. Giving a presentation or meeting clients, always the MBP. Personally, always the iPad Pro. Communicating always the iPhone. Typing - writing - almost always the ThinkPad.
Typing long texts and browsing complex webpages (including shopping sites) is much nicer experience on MacBook tho.
But I agree, I use iPhone as my daily device and this is the device I use 90% of all time on non work-related tasks. Other 5% go to my TV😄
As for the Apple Watch, never had intention to own those. Just no purpose for me: screen too small, needs to be worn on the wrist, not standalone
But I agree, I use iPhone as my daily device and this is the device I use 90% of all time on non work-related tasks. Other 5% go to my TV😄
As for the Apple Watch, never had intention to own those. Just no purpose for me: screen too small, needs to be worn on the wrist, not standalone
No, it would not.
I was 16 in 1986. I had a computer at home, a driver's license and a car. Internet didn't show up in my house until 1999 when I was 29. Always on internet didn't show up until around 2004 when I was 34. Internet on my phone didn't show up until Christmas 2008 when I was 38.
Getting a cell phone in 1999 was simply to be able to make phone calls outside the house. My wife and I weren't even texting until 2004.
So, I have lived and can live without a phone and easy access to internet outside home because 99 percent of my time is spent in front of a computer at home. It was this way in the 1980s and it was this way in the 1990s and the early 00s. My phone primarily functions as a calling, text and email device during the 1 percent of my time that I am outside the house. And all that can be handled at home with a computer.
So, between my computer and my phone, the device I can do without is the phone.
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I’ve made several posts personally from an old SE 2016 I have. Others from my Mac mini and others from my 15P. It just depends where I am.
I would keep my laptop. I can personally do without my iPhone, and could go back to a flip phone if need be, or even a landline in a pinch.
Of course I would need a phone, but it wouldn't have to be an internet-connected phone.
We bought a home back in 2018. I made dang sure to view and sign documents on my MacBook Pro. I wasn't going to trust something as important as that to a jack of all trades device.
I'm glad you were successful and will continue to be using your phone for everything. But, I doubt I will ever be there except if that is the only way to get it done. I don't trust phones for really important stuff as they've failed at it on me more than once.
There’s something profoundly unsettling about smartphones, precisely because they are the everything device. You can do virtually anything with them, and as the endless stream of content generated by LLMs grows, the boundaries blur even further. We’ve long passed the point of asking, what’s the point of all this?
Other devices, like laptops and desktops, feel more compartmentalized, more intentional. Even iPads, with their whimsical, social nature, make sense in group settings or creative environments. They inhabit a different mental space, one with purpose and focus.
To grasp this, consider how cinema or television portrays technology. A scene where a character sits down at a computer or taps away on a tablet feels specific and understandable. It’s tied to a deliberate action or narrative choice. Phones, by contrast, are almost exclusively depicted as communication devices, a means to message someone or receive information in real time.
Movies haven’t evolved much in their treatment of phones as anything but plot facilitators. And yet, in real life, the phone is omnipresent. It’s so easy to look something up or, even more effortlessly, ask ChatGPT. There’s no backlash against this ubiquity, just a continued march toward deeper integration.
The purposefulness of other devices creates a barrier, a separation, that allows them to occupy a distinct headspace. This difference fosters focus and enables a stronger, more intentional workflow. While some may resist the phone’s vortex of constant social media drama and distraction, most cannot.
What’s striking, though, is how much more productive you can be on a larger screen. The clarity and focus that come with purpose built tools are a quiet reminder of the trade offs we make for convenience.
Other devices, like laptops and desktops, feel more compartmentalized, more intentional. Even iPads, with their whimsical, social nature, make sense in group settings or creative environments. They inhabit a different mental space, one with purpose and focus.
To grasp this, consider how cinema or television portrays technology. A scene where a character sits down at a computer or taps away on a tablet feels specific and understandable. It’s tied to a deliberate action or narrative choice. Phones, by contrast, are almost exclusively depicted as communication devices, a means to message someone or receive information in real time.
Movies haven’t evolved much in their treatment of phones as anything but plot facilitators. And yet, in real life, the phone is omnipresent. It’s so easy to look something up or, even more effortlessly, ask ChatGPT. There’s no backlash against this ubiquity, just a continued march toward deeper integration.
The purposefulness of other devices creates a barrier, a separation, that allows them to occupy a distinct headspace. This difference fosters focus and enables a stronger, more intentional workflow. While some may resist the phone’s vortex of constant social media drama and distraction, most cannot.
What’s striking, though, is how much more productive you can be on a larger screen. The clarity and focus that come with purpose built tools are a quiet reminder of the trade offs we make for convenience.
I’m trying to say this in the nicest way possible, but I can really only say it this one way, I don’t believe you.
Yes, you lived without Internet and phones in the 80s and 90s, fantastic. So did everyone else, and that was 30 years ago.
But try to live without any phone, any phone of any kind, any landline, not a basic flip phone, not a laptop or tablet turned into a phone, nothing like that, in 2025.
Bet you you can’t.
I will echo the point above. Functionnally you can do everything on a smartphone nowadays (barring some freak incidences). Whether the ergonomics are comparable on both platforms is a different matter entirely.
The sheer idea of being limited to my two thumbs frightens me. But if your ability to operate the devices is not directly tied to your ability to maximise earnings, then it is not vital.
I'd still say that if I personally were to limit myself to one device, it would have to be an android (I know). But it does seem to be the only platform allowing for the breath of personallisation still available to mac users in the smartphone format.
The sheer idea of being limited to my two thumbs frightens me. But if your ability to operate the devices is not directly tied to your ability to maximise earnings, then it is not vital.
I'd still say that if I personally were to limit myself to one device, it would have to be an android (I know). But it does seem to be the only platform allowing for the breath of personallisation still available to mac users in the smartphone format.
Aside from the fact that your assertion was about cell phones (you said nothing about a landline), have you ever heard of Google Voice?
If pressed, I could put one of my MBPs to work using GV or Facetime for audio calls. Not that I'd want to do that, I'd just get a landline again as that'd be a lot of hassle (as you imply). My wife would welcome a return to a landline. There was a span of time we were paying for both a landline and cellphones.
My point here is that a phone is a nicety for me. It makes things easier, but it is not the device I primarily use as my main computing device. You believe I need it and I assure you that if it came down to a choice, I don't.
I'm a 54 year old graphic designer with 25 years in the industry, the last six with my current employer. I design golf scorecards and yardage books for a living. With a work issued Mac. My primary tool is QuarkXPress. I work for a company that has less than 20 employees. My wife is a 59 year old elementary teacher in her third year.
So, there is nothing we are going to be doing any different in 2025 than in any previous year.
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This is exactly how I feel…the main reason why I went for the largest iPhone screen possible (16PM). I use it for everything. Only pull out my MacBook Air for schoolwork/typing papers or long emails.