it’s not like you are looking anywhere ense when you open windows start

That's just not true, at least in my experience. I typically use the search box to open what I am looking for, and frankly would be very annoyed if I had to switch to something that takes over my entire screen to do that. I don't even have to do that on my phone, and that is my biggest complaint with Gnome is that it looks and feels like they are trying to make a mobile interface first, not a PC interface. And if I have to browse for something, I do still much prefer a small organized menu to something filling my entire screen. I'm on an ultra-wide screen, I don't want to have to physically turn my head to see the entire list. Maybe this makes sense on very small screens but that circles me back around to feeling like Gnome is meant for a tablet and not my desktop PC.

Clearly we all have different ideas and work flows that we like, and that's fine. I'm very happy there are alternatives to Gnome as I've hated it every time I've tried it; but, obviously there are a lot of people that like what they are doing. I just probably won't ever understand those people.