I assume you know it's not 'impossible'.

Not only that, but I only recline if I'm awake and have my eyes open - in response to the person in front doing so.

I don't find it a more comfortable position, but I do find the person in front adopting it an uncomfortable encroachment on my space; so I reclaim it.

Obviously others differ, since I would never recline in the emergency exit row, so if we all felt the same way nobody would have anything to recline in response to.

Are you tall (> 6 feet)?

I think people’s policies on reclining are probably significant impacted by how uncomfortable they are if the person in front reclines, which AFAICT is much more significant for tall people than people of median height or below.

I think the main argument is whether to recline on flights, say, less than 5 hours in duration. If everyone is trying to sleep on a long overnight, most everyone would like to recline

I never recline and fall asleep regularly.

It's not if you have a window seat. You can lean on the plane wall.