Except for a very few unusual plants, no potted plants are watered by putting water on the leaves. The water is applied to the soil for the roots to deliver to the plant. For that to happen successfully, roots need to be healthy, and have access to oxygen and moisture at the same time. When there is no moisture, roots shrivel and die. When there is moisture w/o oxygen, the roots suffocate and rot.
No plant likes to be rootbound. What is necessary for plants to stay alive is for their roots to not rot, which can happen so easily in a pot with dense soils, like ground dirt, or bagged mixes of predominantly tiny particles of peat, (or to simply shrivel from simply never getting any water.) Having very little soil around the roots would make the soil dry more quickly, and for even the most dedicated plant-overwaterers to not rot the roots of their plants. This gives rise to a myth about plants liking to be pot/root-bound. This is not ideal, since most non-cactus plants are stressed by dry conditions, it's just a way of coping with soil that has little air in it when moist. A more porous, chunky soil (like cactus/palm, if one is buying bagged,) can have more air in it even when it is moist because there is space between the particles. When there are tiny particles of any kind in a pot, such as peat, sand, silt, clay, they filter into all of the tiny spaces in a pot, eliminating the air. "Overwatering" is the label and manifestation when roots have suffocated and/or rotted, combo of both. Over time, organic bits decompose into smaller bits, and growing roots fill more of the space, so even the "best" soil, if it has organic components, will need to be replaced when this happens. The speed at which this happens depends on many variables, but on average, about 1-3 years. An unglazed clay pot can also help with roots having more access to more oxygen.
