Many adult learners switch on the metronome and let it click on every beat. That is useful when a rhythm is new, because every beat has an external reference and rushing or dragging becomes obvious. Once a passage is reasonably stable, however, a click on every beat can create a false sense of security. You may be following the metronome rather than generating the pulse yourself.
One way to test this is to reduce the number of clicks. In 4/4, if you have been practising at 80 with four clicks per bar, set the metronome to 40 and treat each click as covering two beats. Later, try one reference point per bar. The fewer external markers you receive, the more responsibility you take for the time between them. When the next click arrives, you discover whether your internal pulse has held steady or drifted.
Less guidance is not automatically better. New passages, difficult rhythms and unstable movements may still need a click on every beat. The useful change is that the metronome gradually stops leading and starts checking.
If you practise with <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scoreflow/id6796205656">ScoreFlow</a>, you can combine this approach with section-based practice and tempo tracking, then compare how steadily the same passage holds together under different amounts of metronome support.
https://www.tonal.fm/guides/metronome-practice
https://www.jazzadvice.com/lessons/hearing-time-rhythmic-ear-training/
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