Fingertips - a Surprising Discovery

My pottery teacher keeps telling me to use the tips of my fingers to control the clay, and not the flat pads, and I am making an effort to do that.
That effort led me to discover that I also use the pads of my fingers for typing on the computer keyboard, as I am now, and for playing saxophone. So I'm trying to change that, too, because using the tips rather than the pads gives you more control and sensitivity, but it's hard to unlearn a lifetime habit.
It makes me wonder why I developed that habit in the first place.
Very often, changing something very small, like consciously using your fingertips to type (which means curving your fingers rather than keeping your hands flat), can be the key to changing something bigger. Who knows where increased sensitivity and control of one's fingers can lead?