I'm brushing up on my grammar using Cambridge's English Grammar in Use, and in the present continuous and present simple unit, it mentioned when to use "always do" and "always doing".
I never picked up on the difference between the two, but the textbook says that when you always do something, that it's present simple for something you do frequently, while when you're "always doing" something, it has a negative connotation to it; like, you're doing it too much.
And yet, i hear people say "I always eat at restaurant A" with them sounding happy about it. I also hear people use the present simple, the "I always do", when they talk about something negatively; like, "I always lose my glasses".
I don't get the difference between "I always do A" and "I'm always doing A".
Best Answer
When native speakers say
it's as if they're gently berating themselves that they persist in making the same error or slip-up.
Those are things you find yourself doing again and again. Such statements are an exclamation, more or less.
You can express a similar idea with simple present.
but for many speakers the simple present wouldn't be as gentle and forgiving as the continuous, and there would be a little tinge of angry frustration in the statement.
What would NOT be idiomatic is to use the present continuous to refer to your standard (volitional/intentional) practice: