Bird-watching exemplifies receptivity-based attention opposed to search-driven consumption
Evidence
However you refer to it, what this practice has in common with Deep Listening is that observing birds requires you quite literally to do nothing. Bird-watching is the opposite of looking something up online. You can’t really look for birds; you can’t make a bird come out and identify itself to you. The most you can do is walk quietly and wait until you hear something, and then stand motionless under a tree, using your animal senses to figure out where and what it is. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 62
Categorization
Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims
- XREF: Strongly supports the defense: ‘the opposite of looking something up online’ directly counters the misreading that Odell recommends informational withdrawal rather than rechannelled attention.