Why are changes cascading up?

The cascading rule says changes on mobile should not affect desktop or mobile.

Does this apply to all types of changes?

When I remove containers in mobile, it completely affects my desktop. Is this normal?

@hueofblue deleting containers would be a structure change, right after the container will be deleted, you will see this pop-up:

if you would like to hide an element, you can use Don’t display tool, here is more detailed explanation from Academy X