"I need to play some hands otherwise people will know I'm too tight"

That is actually a completely valid line of thought, especially when it comes to hands which are marginal / break even or even slightly profitable. You get more action if you don't have a nitty image.

It's valid for marginal/profitable hands. It's not valid for -EV hands.

Players who notice you being a nit (as opposed to dicking around on their phones) tend to either make zero adjustment because they didn't come here to fold or they do adjust by giving more credit, meaning c-bets, semi-bluffing etc. now become more profitable.

Now obviously sometimes you may be in a situation where you can't just turn up and nit it up all day long e.g. because it's a juicy home game and they won't invite you again or the table whale just hates nits and won't given them any action. But generally it's way less important than people make out.

9 times out of 10 playing hands to 'not look nitty' is just making an excuse see a flop because folding a lot is really boring.