Hello, imagine that you have image1.jpeg. If you resample with image size, and save as image2.jpg, image1 will stay intact. (if you do not save it after the operation) There's no need for a smart object in this kind of workflow.
A smart object can only live in a PSD, PSB or TIFF document.
Usually, you convert to SO, in case you need to change the image size, but might need to adjust afterwards: for instance, you create a banner, and have image1 inserted at 33% size, then additional filters are applied on it. You can then change its size to 50% later without having to reimport it, and run it trought all the (smart) filters again.
It has a "cost" in filesize, so, usually, it is done on a case by case basis.
Once an image is converted to SO, so cannot paint on it directly, without editing (opening) the smart object.
see: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/create-smart-objects.html