You can check your bank account and credit statements anywhere and any time. Even cashing checks. No more walking (or driving if you could afford it) to the nearest location. That’s value.
You can check the news anywhere. You can make sure your mom hasn’t fallen and hurt herself, that’s stress relief. You can educate yourself (and many people do) in very nuanced topics from the bus stop. You don’t need a second TV/computer for the kids to keep everyone in the home happy. You can quickly find great recipes from your kitchen to cook more healthy. Even just looking up stuff like “calories in salmon” have made me healthier. Yea some of this could have been on my computer, but that would take more time.
I think the advances you mentioned are indeed advances.
Smartphones I am not so convinced about. They suppress computer literacy and are essentially Sackler-brand walkie-talkies.