It's not that it's visually distracting that's the problem - it's that you can't feel where the buttons are without looking.

And if you aren't looking you'll accidentally do things you didn't mean to, like press escape, or turn your mac off when trying to hit back space.

To be fair, I don't use my function keys on my laptop enough to where it became muscle memory, especially for the alternative functions they provide (screen brightness, media, etc).

Apple had those keys in the same place for ages, and they're all set to the the action rather than function by default. Volume up and down is useful, as is escape and the power button. Key brightness is handy, play/pause I used to use a lot. So looking forward to finally getting a new laptop when the M1 Macbook Pro comes out.

There's already the 13" MBP with M1. You mean 16"?

Kinda not really - yes you can kinda see it - but you need to look at it most of the time to hit a button correctly. Which you didn’t always/usually have to do with physical buttons. It also switches any time there is a context switch, which depending on what is going on can be insanely distracting (especially when it is using it to display autocomplete, autocorrect suggestions as you type fast)