Afaik, their most important role is pest control because they eat tons of other insects. They are also very important pollinators. IIrc, third most important after flies and wild bees(not honey bees).
I hate them too, but they are a critical part of our ecosystem.
You could probably use your phone. I haven’t tried it but I’m pretty sure it’s possible.
And you don’t need a bootable USB for every OS you have. You only need one and can create whatever you need on that live system. In case of the steam deck you could also have an SD card with a different OS and create your SteamOS stick there.