Bonsai trees are art, they’re created by strategically trimming trees in such a way that they mimic the appearance of most trees but at a smaller size.
Keeping bonsai trees is a relaxing hobby, you can spend a fair amount of time trimming your bonsai tree and shaping it. It is however a hobby that demands attention as the bonsai tree you grow will require regular cutting to maintain the small size.    Bonsai trees are popular, you see a fair few on the shelves of garden centres, often commanding a high price (especially high considering they’re just strategically cut trees), through this high demand for bonsai, I fear there may be some unsustainability, it wouldn’t much surprise me if many bonsai trees grow to their natural size and are discarded. Speak to a group of people and you may find that some aren’t aware what bonsai trees are, not in the sense that they don’t know that they’re small trees, but they don’t know what they are in the sense of them being regular trees that are just well maintained to remain at their petite size.
This confusion around what bonsai trees are and how we grow them to size can be seen when you search “are bonsai trees…” on Google.