I find a prompt better than a status line for reminding one of where one is, much like including the CWD in the prompt.

I use a similar style:

    [alfie] ~$
    [rupert] ~$

etc. for my SSH connections, but not for local shells, even though I also use screen. I also use color-coded prompts for selecting particular PATH and other environment variable setups for different branches of our corporate dev tree, to remind myself which compiler etc. I'm using.

I really don't see how these are connected. You could easily have one screen window open and type a command into it absent mindedly without realizing it's not your laptop's shell.