What's going on with fog lights lately?

I've driven a bunch do different cars over the years and all of them have made me take some sort of extra step to switch on front or rear fogs. My current car has a button in a panel to right of steering wheel. Other cars have had dials in the stalk separate to the light controls or things like that. My first car (a ford focus) you had to pull the light control dial out and twist it to switch on fogs.

That is to say, it's not trivial to turn on fogs, so I do not understand why I see so many cars driving around with front and rear fog lights on. The drivers, I assume, must have made the decision to turn them on. And this can be day or night, and not days when fog or heavy rain has been an issue.

What's the deal like? Do people turn fogs on for a reason other than fog? Is there something I'm missing?

(conversely, on foggy days it's like people race to turn their lights off. Maybe we need better lighting instruction?)