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Just weighing up buying one. Thought it'd be interesting to see how much folk use em. None of the guys on tutorials ever have em on. But after session one, I found the air a little... plasticky.

The day after my first airbrushing experience, I had to blow my nose, and it was dark angels green. Since then, ALWAYS.

When priming, basecoating or varnishing. When I'm just doing small blips and boops, no.

I should... but I dont
I always wear one when spraying anything cellulose, or 2pack lacquer based, for waterbased I generally don't bother, although thats my own silly doing lol, you probably should wear one always.
I dont think many of the hobby brands are putting out paints with toxic heavy metals as pigments, as theyre marketed to kids, but you never know. Some of the more upmarket artists paints do have pigments that you definatly do not want to be breathing in (cadmium is an obvious one which is used in reds and yellows)

I do, it's always a good idea to wear one no matter what you're doing, whether it's labelled "non-toxic" or not. Definitely a good idea when you're spraying stuff like primer or varnish. I still go with wearing it even with the acrylic paints. Though they're labelled non-toxic that just means it may not slowly kill you with built up heavy metals over the years. What the respirator mask may help with on non-toxic stuff is to keep you from getting a full blown allergic reaction after agitating your lungs with 'safe' chemicals. And while allergies usually won't kill you, it'll definitely suck. Be like the cool kids, always wear your mask!

I don't, but I spray right next to a large ventilation system (I hold my model in front of the vent).

I won't bother if I'm only spraying something for a minute or two, but otherwise I wear a heavy duty respirator with replaceable filters. I, too, have experienced the multi-hued snot syndrome after a painting session