Using a smartphone isn't "computing" in the same sense as programmers using a laptop for programming. Neither is it in the same sense as writers using a laptop for writing.
Consider: Some devices are consume-only (e.g. Kindle, original iPod); some devices are consume-heavy, create-light (modern iPhone or Android smartphones); some devices are consume-light, create-heavy (modern programmer laptops); some devices are create-only (e.g. typewriters, or modern alternative experiments like Freewrite).
If you only use the consume-only or consume-heavy devices, you're not "computing" in any creative sense. In the same way, you usually aren't writing in any creative sense if you only carry books (or a Kindle) in your backpack and read all day.
Most people spend weeks or months per year "consuming content with a computing device" while not creating a single thing with that computing device. Some of that is communication, like text and group chat messages. But quite a lot of it is short-form content that is passively delivered to eyeballs and ears.
Either way, this isn't creative computing. It may not even be deep content consumption. The typical and popular content doesn't resemble books. There is a widespread and population-wide decline in deep reading as short-form video rises and app notifications flit users from smartphone app to app. You have to be very intentional to even wrangle a smartphone media diet that leaves the space for deep reading. To escape the trap, most find the need to put the smartphone away and pick up a device with different affordances (a Kindle to deep read, or a laptop to code or write, as examples).
Even if you manage to escape attention farming, due to the design of smartphones as omnipresent devices (on-screen keyboards, touch screens, cellular data plans), creativity will still usually be out of the question for the vast majority of users. For that, you usually need to simply put the smartphone away. I personally find that to do creative computing I need a device with a physical keyboard, a mouse-equivalent, and, optionally: a speedy wired/wifi connection and a large monitor on a comfortable desk in a quiet workspace.
Consider: Some devices are consume-only (e.g. Kindle, original iPod); some devices are consume-heavy, create-light (modern iPhone or Android smartphones); some devices are consume-light, create-heavy (modern programmer laptops); some devices are create-only (e.g. typewriters, or modern alternative experiments like Freewrite).
If you only use the consume-only or consume-heavy devices, you're not "computing" in any creative sense. In the same way, you usually aren't writing in any creative sense if you only carry books (or a Kindle) in your backpack and read all day.
Most people spend weeks or months per year "consuming content with a computing device" while not creating a single thing with that computing device. Some of that is communication, like text and group chat messages. But quite a lot of it is short-form content that is passively delivered to eyeballs and ears.
Either way, this isn't creative computing. It may not even be deep content consumption. The typical and popular content doesn't resemble books. There is a widespread and population-wide decline in deep reading as short-form video rises and app notifications flit users from smartphone app to app. You have to be very intentional to even wrangle a smartphone media diet that leaves the space for deep reading. To escape the trap, most find the need to put the smartphone away and pick up a device with different affordances (a Kindle to deep read, or a laptop to code or write, as examples).
Even if you manage to escape attention farming, due to the design of smartphones as omnipresent devices (on-screen keyboards, touch screens, cellular data plans), creativity will still usually be out of the question for the vast majority of users. For that, you usually need to simply put the smartphone away. I personally find that to do creative computing I need a device with a physical keyboard, a mouse-equivalent, and, optionally: a speedy wired/wifi connection and a large monitor on a comfortable desk in a quiet workspace.
See also "Putting Your Media on a Diet":
https://amontalenti.com/2024/01/31/media-diet
And also "The smartphone app audit":
https://amontalenti.com/2024/03/26/the-smartphone-app-audit