For me, it is always when someone asks me a question which answer could easily have been retrieved through their phone online. You’re meaning to tell me, that what you have in your pocket, is not some form of gateway to information that can answer anything you’re curious about at just about anywhere?
So you go and bother me instead, whom for all I care, could just lie to you or to be honest, admit that I don’t know everything. Because that’s what your god damn phone is for now and has been for a while now. Go use it, stop nagging me, I know when to use it when I want to know something, I don’t go around bugging people and asking stupid questions.
Littering. It’s one of the few behaviors I simply have no theory of mind for. Nobody wants to see themselves as a bad person, so we all have stories that justify our actions - but I honestly can’t imagine what story someone tells themselves to excuse throwing trash on the ground. Even with extreme or violent ideologies, I can still picture how a person might end up there, and I can imagine that, under the right circumstances, I could too. But littering just completely baffles me.
If it’s something small like a cigarette butt, or even something larger that someone buries thinking no one will ever find it - fine, whatever. But when I see food wrappers or other garbage just lying there, especially out in nature, I’m genuinely dumbfounded.
Not to justify littering in the slightest (it’s gross and I don’t do it) but I think I can give you an insight in some of the thinking. Because in my own home, I frequently and unthinkingly ‘litter’ even though it annoys me! I open an envelope and read the letter, unconsciously dropping the envelope on the floor. I constantly find empty food packaging in weird places because as soon as I’m done with it I just drop it.
Fortunately I don’t do this in public because I’m always more aware of my actions when I’m out of my own space. But within my home, if I’m doing something while focusing on something else I’m prone to abandoning things carelessly, and when I find them latter I’ll be mad at having to tidy up after myself. So, maybe some folks are like that in public? Also, some folks consciously and shamelessly litter, and there’s really no excuse.
So… Do a lot of people do this? I can’t imagine just letting things drop willy nilly that I am handling. I place the envelop on a table and after reading will either dispose of it all, put the letter back in the envelope and place it somewhere specific, put the letter somewhere specific and dispose of the envelope.
I don’t think it’s very common, partners and flatmates have definitely (and understandably) been frustrated. When I was younger and used to smoke, my friends would be horrified that I wouldn’t tap ash into the an ashtray, but just into the floor or couch I was sitting on. It wasn’t intentional, I don’t like getting ash over myself (or having to pick up envelopes, or find socks scattered over the house) but if I was occupied by a conversation or even just thinking about something, it would happen without my noticing.
But to be fair, I have adhd, so I’ve got a bunch of issues around attention and impulse control. It’s a tiresome habit, and I’m definitely not condoning it. I’m just so glad that I don’t act like that outside my home. There I’m just normal levels of thoughtless, like forgetting to use coasters.
Cigarette butts are some of the most toxic litter disposed of by people and if they’re filtered, contain a fiberglass sponge that leaches out toxins into the soil for hundreds of years after disposal.
But it’s not inexcusable to me, because someone doing that might genuinely not think it’s a big deal - cigarette butts are small, easy to overlook. It is a big deal, of course, but I can at least imagine what goes through their mind when they do it, or rather, what doesn’t. They’re could just be oblivious to it.
That’s not the case with something bigger, though. Nobody with half a brain thinks a plastic food wrapper just disappears into nature or that no one will notice it. They have to know they’re being inconsiderate jerk when they do it - yet I don’t think they would do it if they did, and that’s what makes it so baffling to me. It’s like hitting yourself - why would you do that?