Absolutely. That's why I bought and recommend[0] a 1440p monitor unless you plan to use a 32-36" 4k display which IMO is a bit too big. The 1440p monitor I use is 25" and feels just right because it requires minimal head / eye movement to see everything.
If you stare at text all day, 4k is pretty nice. The difference between 4k and 1440p is easily noticeable to me even on very small displays, like 15" laptops. I have a 1440p gaming laptop, and the less-sharp text is slightly annoying; I otherwise love it as a laptop, though, so I live with 1440p since it's a fairly small screen anyway. On larger displays like an external monitor I definitely wouldn't use 1440p.
From what I understand 200% 4k is the same screen real estate as 1080p. It's a trade off I suppose. I would much prefer 1440p on a smaller monitor (like a 25") which offers pretty good DPI. I can read HN's text at 1:1 scaling from around 3 feet away and I wear glasses, 4 feet is doable too but it starts to get blurry. In my day to day I stand a little further than an arm's length away.
