You must have had a sheltered life.
I agree with Cymbaline. I’d rather have (another) tooth pulled than be forced to sit on a long plane flight with the seat locked up. That could be in part be a result of having a couple abdominal hernias, however.
Of course I was just being facetious. But it’s true, a long flight sitting in fully upright position is torture. I got an emergency exit row seat once, which I thought was going to be really great because of the extra leg room, until I found that they had the seats set to not recline. The extra legroom totally wasn’t worth not being able to recline; it was pure torture for me.
I don’t know why this is an issue all of a sudden. I’ve never had a problem with reclining before, either with being upset at the person in front of me, or with the person behind me being upset at me.