The phrase is applicable when someone says meaningless things annoyingly wordy and repeative. Such as your bother did not come home yesterday, and your mum or dad started to murmur things like why your bother did not come home last night, and he should be home at 10 pm. Nowadays, children really lack discipline and so on and so on. In this case or a similar case, you can say to your parents: " 你能不能不要这样碎碎念的,你念叨也没有用.". Or, another situation that someone is talking to themselves is a similar way. You can ask: " 你在碎碎念什么呢?"