Matt.
A lot of light aircraft fly in uncontrolled airspace which means they can go anywhere they want in this space without talking to, or filing flight plans with air traffic.
Light aircraft occasionally enters controlled airspace and talks to air traffic if there is a safety reason to do so, such as for flying inside cloud or operating around the arrival and departures area of an airport.
This is similar to joe bloggs driving his car down a road. He doesn't necessarily want to be looked at or followed by anyone unless there is a safety reason to do so, such as the cameras and sensors used to activate traffic lights at crossroads.