Not the parent, but for me I don't have to keep the phone on my desk at all. It can stay in my bag. That's actually less distracting since the notifications to my wrist can be filtered (only email and messages, only phone calls, or whatever). Parent mentioned working on-site, where the phone might be more likely to walk off if you forget to pick it up.

Is it revolutionary? Will it change your life? No, I don't share the same rosy view as the parent commenter. But I do find it handy, my phone stays in the bag most of the time, and I don't have to dig for it to find out that I need to pick up milk on the way home.