An IDENT squawk can only be used by a controller to identify an aircraft when it is observed as a response to the controller's request for IDENT so anyone (not just FOs) who presses the button without specifically being told to is wasting both their own time and the controllers.
NB There was a time in the early days of code/callsign conversion when an IDENT was required to tell the computer to convert the code to the casllsign but these days have long gone.
Last edited by chevvron; 14th Jan 2019 at 15:37.