"I am the only person here that uses them BEFORE I turn"

Come down HERE, and I'll show you double left-turn lanes with 20 cars in each lane and 75% of them blinking so's you know they're going to turn....when there's nothing else they COULD do. I assume they do it because they have time...whereas, in real moving traffic, they can't cope with taking a few seconds to signal that they are going to turn or change lanes.