I've commented along these lines before, but here it is again.

First, the best camera in the world is the one you have on you. Have an urge? Take the photo with what ya got, even if that is your phone. On the other hand, try to be more intentional about bringing your camera with you when you venture into the world. This will probably take finding the right lens and overall package size, but I bring my camera and a compact lens with me on most family activities as a result.

Second, for well lit subjects that aren't moving much and aren't that far away modern cellphones are generally fine. Yeah, a dedicated camera with a fast lens can create a nicer looking background if you're simply sharing photos on the web it's not going to matter a ton. Don't get discouraged if this is the kind of photography you prefer.

A dedicated camera will blow a cellphone out of the water in a couple key areas. Those include:

• focus speed and control. Even with my old Nikon D40 and D5300 I feel way more confident in my ability to get focus where I want it than either my work iPhone 15 or my personal OnePlus 12. Modern mirrorless are in a league of their own, especially when you pair them with a lens that can keep up with their focusing algorithms
• the ability to capture sharp photos of things in motion thanks to more light gathering, which lets you use faster shutter speeds
• low light. I'm shooting full frame these days and with a fast lens I have no problem hand holding and taking photos of human subjects in really low light conditions
• interchangeable lenses. A long telephoto will give you way better results than a cellphone digitally zooming
• burst rates. Not all dedicated cameras have nuts frame rates, but a portion do. This makes it really easy to capture the precise moment. Yes, cellphones can do this too but since they're sacrificing light their image quality might not be great

Four examples where I adore my gear:

1. I am the unofficial team photographer for my kids' youth sports teams. They're both currently doing baseball. I can sit at the end of the backstop fence, about 100 or so feet from home plate, and fill the frame with the kids batting. Thanks to high burst rates I can basically guarantee a photo of the ball hitting and just leaving the bat
2. We hang out at a lot of museums and go to night events like zoo lights. My gear lets me get great sharp photos, without blur from my family moving around, thanks to a mix of modern camera sensors being fairly low noise, fast glass, and shooting full frame
3. My older kid did a figure skating show this spring. I rented a 70-200 f/2.8 and was really impressed by the photos it was able to capture. Excellent focusing, kids filling the frame, basically no noise, tack sharp photos
4. Absolute control over exposure and a very easy shooting experience makes it a lot easier to get cool shots, like panning photos at a racetrack or even a panning shot of my kid on their bike

Happy shooting! If you have questions, make another post!