I can share my personal experience in developing a new found love for 60% setups.
I always preferred full size myself, and when I ordered my New Model F62 and F77, I barely touched the F62 and favored the F77, my full size Dell AT101 with Alps SKCL Black switches, or the good old Unicomp Model M. I really used it maybe 2-3 times over a 2 month period, and because of how much I really did like how smooth and tight the New Model F keycaps were on it, I forced myself to just go with it for a little while.I wrote down the FN combinations for stuff like the arrow keys, insert, delete, etc., and just started referencing or even googling where/what to press as my keycaps are also blank(The IBM Capsense software did help with that).
After about 2 weeks ( I am a software developer so I'm typing all day ) I didn't even have to think about it and kinda forgot I was even using a 60% board at all. Then, this week I finally recieved a new blank set of New Model F keycaps to put on my F77 ( I had been waiting months ). I was super excited and first chance I had I put the keycaps on, and then....
OH NO... I had to literally move my hand a few inches to hit the arrow keys... *gasp* and goodness gracious, I had to stretch my pinky down low to hit control... and another stretch to hit backspace.. All of the sudden, my desk had less space, and it was just uncomfortable. So, while those new keycaps sure look nice, I only typed on them about 5 minutes before going back to my F62.
So yes it's painful to start, and I essentially despised these smaller keyboards myself for a long time. However, I don't think I'll ever go back to a full size keyboard again. My productivity has increased, my typing speed has increased (yes I do think that's relatable given how easy it is to hit backspace and truck on), and my overall desk comfort has increased. I'm not sure if that's why "everyone else" is using them, or why they are popular, or even if an F62 fits into that category since it weighs about 9 pounds and is a bit clunky, but that is why I love them.
Cheers!
(Here is my daily driver.)