That's another thing - real people carry around stuff for personal recreation, be it laptops for gaming or whatever, books for reading and so on. At TL8 at least you can transition from books to something kindle-like, and at TL14 (?) or so you can transition from that to just directly having the memory of having read the book implanted, saving you the time of having to read it, and perhaps including the publisher-subsidized memory of having enjoyed it.
The nature of what they carry will change based on technology and culture, but people are going to carry personal use items with them generally, even at the expense of extra ammunition or communications gear.