Why don't people do like me, and just look behind before reclining their seats, and just do it carefully?

And why do some people complain that you are reclining your seat, even when doing it very carefully? The seats are meant to be reclined, so one can try and sleep. Or must I stay 12h awake just because the person behind me doesn't want me to incline my almost-not-reclineable economy class seat?

If someone in front of me reclines, then I recline as well. We all recline and end up the same as we were before in relation to each other.

Meal time? We all un-recline.