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Comment by Frieren | Hacker News Reader

> so I can enjoy the same effects by looking at tiktoks of birds,

Birdwatching includes looking at top trees searching for birds. Looking at complex fractal-like accumulations of branches and leaves. Also following sounds and identifying their source. The brain was designed for this task.

A screen does not seem a substituted for such a incredible rich experience. Screens are a flat low-resolution, low fidelity view of reality. And no brain has evolved to watch at them. It can actually be quite tiresome to look at screens all day, as so many things about them go against how our eyes and brains work.

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Isn't this counter to the idea that gaming can also slow cognitive decline for similar reasons?

The average CounterStrike player, for example, is scanning complex structures trying to identify an enemy, listening to sounds and trying to follow the source...etc. Why would the screen get in the way in one case but not the other?

Parent's point is IMHO that birdwatching involves a lot more attention, skill and experience than just plainly looking at a screen.

As sister comments point out, this could be reproduced with a lot more technology (VR with high precision controllers ?), which could bring it on par with playing Counter Strike in some ways perhaps ?

To expand on bird watching, people usually don't mindlessly choose a wood cabin and just sit there. They'll know which bird should be where depending on the season, where they tend to hide depending on the time of the day, their bird calls etc. and eventually trek to wherever the birds will be. It's also not so far from fishing.

Maybe I misunderstood, or took their argument too literally. I understood it to be damning screens specifically.

Seems like we're all generally in agreement, then. Probably nothing to do with the literal act of seeing birds, but all of the cognitive work that goes into it. Birdwatching is just an easy-to-digest hobby that demands the right sorts of cognitive activity. This can be akin to a 'Bird Spotting: the Video-game' with whatever flavor and skin, be it a shooter or racing sim or sports game.... but does not seem to cross over into 'TikTok' style less-cognitive activities behind a screen

Clearly counter strike needs to add birds.

You joke, but they already have birds https://www.dexerto.com/counter-strike-2/cs2-adds-pet-chicke...

My cat's brain sure does seem to be stimulated by birdwatching on a screen. He tries to kill them, then walks behind the screen and has a WTF moment, and returns to the front to try to kill them again.

It's very entertaining for me, but I don't do it to him very often lest he become miswired.

VR birdwatching it is then

I come from the world of live action VR and not 3D generated, so my mind instantly went to what it would take to make a VR live action experience of finding the actual birds in an actual location possible. The image collection required to allow for a zoomed in through binocs view enough detail would be something "fun" to assemble. Everything was designed around wide angle lenses a la GoPros because of form factor which means zooming would be atrocious. Designing something with long lenses would result in a camera rig that would be insanely impractical. Now, using a set of sensors like the Rubin Observatory might might make this feasible. Hmmm...

Birds aren't real, anyway.

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