Smartphones are what killed it for me. As I switched to using my smartphone + tablet more, it broke my emacs setup. I'm still trying to get it back.
the same file served me well for over a decade. :)
I suspect it's impractical to adapt the Emacs workflow to the task of syncing data across devices that is now the expected norm, and other services will have to rise up in its place. If all you have is a filesystem, up-to-date syncing across multiple devices is just a really hard problem (coming from someone who could never get Syncthing to work reliably).
However, I have heard of the remoteStorage protocol, which is supposed to be an open-source syncing protocol that replaces Dropbox and the like, but it's still in its infancy. Maybe adding support for it as a plugin to sync directly from Emacs, instead of using a "dumb" polling filesystem monitor, could become an option.
However, for non-work stuff, I usually rely on pen-and-paper lists.
It works for me, I've experimented with a few apps but they've never stuck within my workflow.
> I was very productive, then, using emacs.
"I was never more productive" isn't wrong, and in context it should be clear. But, I read this like "Never, using emacs, did I experience increased productivity".
It reminds me of that trope, "Couldn't care less".