To still prefer browsing via my laptop than a phone?

BustingBaoBun · 16/03/2025 18:44

Yes I agree. I worked for an IT company back in the 80s, so it was bloody huge machines, then massive desktops, then eventually laptops.

One thing I can't do is that swipey typing on a phone.

Original poster

MissMarplesCat · 16/03/2025 18:38

OddBoots · 16/03/2025 08:31

I prefer my laptop for most things but I do wonder if that is a privileged position - I can afford both a mobile phone and a laptop and I don't have school age children who would have priority on the laptop for study, for many I would have thought that may not be achievable.

I see your point, but it also made me wonder if it has something to do with how we began using the web.
I began on a desktop, then moved over to a laptop in 2010.
My sister was always a bit tech shy so avoided getting online for a while. When she did, she accessed it via her phone as she already had that, if you see what I mean.
They do have an ipad and an old laptop my parent's gave to her but she is 100% phone only.

A lot of younger people will have started on tablets, so maybe familiarity counts, too?

Those I know who took to the web late in the day all seem to use their phone only.
I also think a LOT of people who really didn't like computers or have any interest in the net before the Facebook era will have started off using their phone to access the app, so will never have gained any interest in laptops as computers in themselves don't interest them..

When I am out and about on trains, the vast majority of people are slumped over their phones. A small percentage sit with a laptop, usually business or study related.

End of sociology report

OP posts:

OddBoots · 16/03/2025 08:31

I prefer my laptop for most things but I do wonder if that is a privileged position - I can afford both a mobile phone and a laptop and I don't have school age children who would have priority on the laptop for study, for many I would have thought that may not be achievable.

BustingBaoBun · 16/03/2025 08:22

My laptop runs down after 2/3 hours.

You must have an old laptop. Mine lasts about eight hours and it will charge up quickly

NattyTurtle59 · 16/03/2025 07:47

I can't be bothered browsing on my phone, and only do it as a last resort - and it usually disappoints me when I do. Other than texting and messaging, and a rare call, I don't use my phone much at all. Why do something on a tiny screen when I can use a bigger one?

ElizaDolittle4321 · 16/03/2025 07:30

YANBU I only use a mobile to text or phone. That's it. I find any mobile I have had takes ages to call up a page, laptops/desktops are lightning fast. I am also a fast touch typist and it takes me around 30 seconds on a laptop what takes me around 4 to 5 mins to 'type' on a mobile. I will never, NEVER understand why people want to browse on such a tiny thing. Does anyone remember back when the bigger the pc monitor, the better? Now, it's the smallest mobile, the better. Everything is back asswards.

maximalistmaximus · 16/03/2025 06:21

I’m the opposite. I maybe only open my laptop once every 2 or 3 weeks. I find it fidgety & awkward. Using the mouse pad takes too much coordination. I don’t like being hunched over. I’m also confused to a set place/position.

I haven’t looked on Mumsnet on a laptop for maybe a decade.

im on my iPhone all the time.

I can easily go from app to app without losing my place.

it feels more secure. I don’t have to worry about viruses or crashing.

all my photos are there so I can share them.

I use it out and about.

I can have my phone in front of me but the tv on in the background too.

I can’t type well so I find I do lots of typos on the laptop. The iPhone autocorrects me.

I’ll normally have 10 + apps open plus 100-200 tabs open on safari.

I mentally associate the laptop with work and the phone with leisure. So the laptop Feels like a chore.

the phone lives in my pocket. I even check it on the loo!

id have hundreds of messages if I only saw them when I was in a position to switch on a laptop. It doesn’t last long before needing charged with is a bigger more awkward charger. My phone charger is permanently by my bed & I take extras out with me when away. It can even charge in the car. My laptop runs down after 2/3 hours. My phone lasts all day.

KimberleyClark · 16/03/2025 02:35

My Ipad mini is my browsing device of choice.

Devianinc · 16/03/2025 02:30

MissMarplesCat · 15/03/2025 11:35

I run a small business online so have used a laptop for web related work now for many years - site maintenance, building, etc. Obviously a lot of this kind of work doesn't fit well 'in-app', so an ipad or phone would be arsey.

Reading my stats I am aware that over 96% of my visitors are using Android mobile, followed by iphone. Of course I see this all around me, so it isn't quite news, but it did make me realise that I have a preference.

Whenever I have to access the net via my phone the experience always feels much poorer, a bit hemmed in, and less immersive?

At home I will watch film, view art/photography and shop on my laptop, as well as using it for work purposes. It isn't just the larger screen, I find it better for posture, general chilling out and just moving around the web. I do prefer the ipad to view app related stuff such as instagram, but would always use my laptop to view mumsnet, because the app feels a bit too 'locked in' and and there seem to be fewer choices around navigation and jumping between browsers, etc.

ipads seem to be somewhere in the middle, and according to stats, a much younger age group prefers them. That makes sense, especially for children, but I can't get my head around why adults prefer to do most of their browsing on a phone. My sister is one of them, and has barely used her ipad in years. She's developing a bloody hump!

But what probably concerns me the most is that in-app browsing feels very corporate controlled and restricted, so many apps are like a walled garden that don't have much fluidity regarding getting out of them without losing your place, IYSWIM?
So if I am reading a site like Reddit in an app, if I pop somewhere else for a moment the damn thing resets when I pop back. This feels really limiting and utterly fucks with my attention span.

Yeah, well it’s got a bigger screen. Who cares.

wombat1a · 16/03/2025 02:12

Don't use my phone for hardly anything other than messaging or google maps if I am out and need to look up an address.

I could quite easily manage with the cheapest smallest android phone and then use the money saved to buy a 32" screen for my desktop and be very happy.

RoastDinnerSmellsNice · 16/03/2025 00:21

So it looks like my assumption may be right then, how interesting.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/03/2025 21:29

Laptop every time. I am a touch typist and it is so much quicker if I want to post to do it using a proper keyboard.

Original poster

MissMarplesCat · 15/03/2025 21:25

I jumped from iPhone 6 to iPhone 14.
I am what you'd call a reluctant phone enthusiast. That said I love my new camera, but that's about all I have for my money.

OP posts:

BustingBaoBun · 15/03/2025 21:24

I take my laptop whenever I can. So much easier to type more than a few words. We've just been away for 3 days, I left my laptop, it did my head in having to do what I always do on a phone.

imtryingtoleave · 15/03/2025 21:22

cromebook always for me at home

TheOtherAgentJohnson · 15/03/2025 21:22

Much prefer the laptop, yes. I'm 43, but I don't do any social media and I'm not that into my phone. Not even sure where it is at the moment.

Original poster

MissMarplesCat · 15/03/2025 21:21

BustingBaoBun · 15/03/2025 20:29

Oh yes! Sometimes I have to type a long email and on a laptop it takes no time. On a phone... not!

But apps and travel stuff like visas etc has to be a phone much as I dislike it!

Show quote history

I can't stand typing anything longer than a paragraph on a phone or ipad.
I was once stuck with my ipad for several months whilst staying with a relative in Scotland. I wished I'd taken my bloody laptop it wasn't even that much heavier to haul!
I am a good typist, often go so fast that i make some pretty silly typo's, but the predictive over-sensitivity of the ipad almost drove me mad. There was a spell where it placed a comma after every word as if I'd suffered a brain injury. Just whyyyyyy?

Mm, the cynic in me wonders, conspiratorially, whether perhaps we are being dumbed down..... encouraged to type less, and shout more.

OP posts:

Original poster

MissMarplesCat · 15/03/2025 21:18

Ah, I do find typing easier on a standard keyboard, and am strained on a phone even with mini hands (not like Trump before you say it, lol!).

One thing I do prefer with a laptop is the browser and url options. I find copy/pasting really temperamental on touch screen devices. You'd think they'd have solved that by now. Predictive text is my nightmare, much simpler on a regular keyboard. I think ipads and phones are too sensitive.

I have an old macbook air here and dread it dying as I can't excuse the cost of another with an ipad lingering in the room.

OP posts:

echt · 15/03/2025 20:57

Another laptop user here, and with the same issues with phones - I'm less skilled with it, but fast as a fast thing with my Mac.

For context I'm 70 and was a teacher (or am I still? but that's a TAAT ) where a laptop was provided and could be taken home, and phones subject to too many rule changes.

BustingBaoBun · 15/03/2025 20:29

Laiste · 15/03/2025 20:18

Laptop for me too. Rest of the family it's phones.

I have been forcing myself to use my phone for looking for stuff and booking stuff lately because i feel like i should be better aquainted with how to do it.

I can hunt for and find specific things on my laptop more efficiently than husband can with his phone. Even things which i'm not familiar with to do with the house build.

I can touch type on a keyboard with barely any mistake whereas on a phone it's a shambles.

Oh yes! Sometimes I have to type a long email and on a laptop it takes no time. On a phone... not!

But apps and travel stuff like visas etc has to be a phone much as I dislike it!

RoastDinnerSmellsNice · 15/03/2025 20:22

I think possibly OP, that laptops are the choice of people who can type, as you can type so much quicker when using all your digits rather than 2 or 3 on a phone. My DD often moans that I send her really long messages via Apple 'Messenger', on my MacBook, because I am a typist, whereas it takes her ages to input even a couple of sentences on her iPhone.

Laiste · 15/03/2025 20:18

Laptop for me too. Rest of the family it's phones.

I have been forcing myself to use my phone for looking for stuff and booking stuff lately because i feel like i should be better aquainted with how to do it.

I can hunt for and find specific things on my laptop more efficiently than husband can with his phone. Even things which i'm not familiar with to do with the house build.

I can touch type on a keyboard with barely any mistake whereas on a phone it's a shambles.

BobnLen · 15/03/2025 20:11

I love a desktop, mine is green to match the decor

ruethewhirl · 15/03/2025 20:09

Some things are definitely easier to do on a full-sized computer IME.

BustingBaoBun · 15/03/2025 20:07

MissMarplesCat · 15/03/2025 14:01

Well I will be honest , expected a roasting, lol.
I am 52, so do wonder if age has anything to do with it, since I began on a larger screen, whereas many very young people didn't? I also first discovered computers via image editing in art school, so that might explain my preference, too.

I love my phone for maps, texting, a bit of insta and pinterest scrolling in doctor's waiting room or waiting for a train, not to mention booking tickets, but never for relaxing or pleasure.

I think if you are heavily into social media the phone is the thing, too. I never took to SM so only used it for work.

Surprised people are still using desktops - I loved them for creative stuff, but sad to see less of them on the market now. I also think many tech skills are lost to apps, too. I used to run several blogs back int he day, and it used to take some serious fiddlng/code, etc.

I use a laptop, DH uses a desktop and is not a gamer!