Again, I could never agree with this. Nothing about the handheld seems inviting, I think it's more to do with the immediate accessibility, picking up the switch and flicking it on just feels like picking up a phone and sitting on the sofa. Turning on a console and sitting in front a television ready to play a game does feel like more of a commitment, but that's exactly what I enjoy about gaming anyway. The aim for me is total immersion, I don't want to just casually sit on the sofa playing a game like TOTK.
I sound old and cranky but I think TikTok has rotted away so much of our general attention spans / ability to commit ourselves to something.
I GET wanting to immerse and be totally there.
I dissagree that that cant happen on a handheld, my GBA and DS experiences dissagree there. (Heck, my first experience of FF6 was the GBA version, or LTTP, and i remember once when i was playing Pokemon on a new safe without wanting to override the old safe, and seing how far i can get on one battery charge. I was immersed, totally).
I also remember playing pikmin 3 back then on the wii u pad, felt more natural and better, and after a long play session where i forgot time i realized that i stared to long onto that screen and needed to readjust to be able to focus again further away.
Now that i have argued why the notion that immersion cant happen on a small screen (or is worse, since you can easier put on headphones and search for a place where you have more peace, say in a household with children...), lets get to the reason why short less immersive play sessions are not that bad:
meditative/calming activities. I wont argue for bad game design (in jrpgs) where you have to have somethign else on to keep engaged because the game is not enough, im more talking stuff we had prior:
playing dice with friends while talking about stuff, knitting wile watching a movie, doodling while being in class. Its for a lot of people either one activity is not mentaly stimulating enough, or it helps with some other impulses, or helps people use the time they have better. Say i have to watch a conference or a lecture or a presentation / training from my field, but its long winded, not everything is important. Just playing something simple next to it to not drift to far away can help.
Having time to fill? if i have 20-30 minutes to do something, and have nothing important to do in that time, immersing myself in a big play session doesn't work.
TotK: i played major story parts docked, and did a lot of shrine hunting and depth exploration in handheld, after i got my fill of the atmosphere (one of the more disappointing aspects, shrines where again rather samey, and the depths where as big as the overworld but with a fraction of its diversity...)