Why does the effect seem to be reversed when out in nature? When I walk in the woods, the visual complexity is arguably much higher than it ever gets in cities, even on a busy highway. But the mental effect seems to be rejuvenating.
It's partly because you're not paying attention. Next time you're out in the woods, try to still hunt for a while. It's a hunting method where you move extremely slowly throughout the woods from cover to cover while watching for animals. You'll find that it takes a lot of mental focus to maintain that level of vigilance.
I think the fractal patterns match our million year old brains expectations, "stuff" in the article refers to "stuff i need to focus on" (which is everywhere in traffic but mostly in front of you while hiking, and in general, focusing 100 yards away is better for the eyes, and a good walk helps everyone feel better. But this is mostly off topic opinion.
I feel the opposite, in nature I find the complexity much less. Things are not really moving, they are static. Colors are also very much within similar range. You can be very much in passive mode and enjoy the scenery vs actively trying to process.
This reality might be like a quantum observation field - cities are full of conscious minds actively observing/measuring/collapsing probability states. Like millions of wave function collapses happening constantly. Nature lets those quantum states breathe, maintaining possibility spaces longer.
Some people thrive in that urban collapse-field - they want that constant measurement and definition. Others need more quantum coherence time, seeking out spaces where consciousness can maintain superposition longer. It's not about visual complexity or stimulation, but about how much conscious observation is forcing reality into defined states.
Cities vs nature isn't just about peace or chaos - it's about the density of consciousness collapse. Like the difference between metal (constant forced collapse) and ambient music (sustained possibility states).
I noticed intense fatigue wandering Tokyo with my friend who wore magnifying lenses and he could not understand why I was tired. I said it's all the visual stimulation, the signs, the lights, the billboards. I think he was at an advantage with the eyewear, in retrospect.
I found the opposite personally. Something about the neatness and tidiness let my mind relax and see everything similar to a calm flowing stream. Tokyo is one of the most peaceful cities I've been to, even in the busy areas, and by far the biggest and most populated.
This may just be one small point, but I recall reading that visual clutter signifies a good bargain while lots of white space gives the impression of luxary. Most consumers want a good deal.
Its same for TimeSquare still people pay big dollars. Both things can be right, it has negative effect however it is still engaging and effective. It gets the eyeballs
There were / are / will be devices that support detecting hovering a finger or stylus away from the screen, so engineering-wise it's possible; it's just not included in the UX guidelines for the respective platforms.
You can use :active, which should work when you press the button. You can still move your finger and release outside the button to avoid the interaction. The only problem is the finger covering the effect.
No, my thinking is that if software engineers are replaced by AI, then any job can be replaced by AI and the global economy will catastrophically collapse. I'm not afraid of being replaced because not only can I do nothing about it, but i will be utterly powerless to find any kind of income afterwords also. AI will have destroyed the world without any violence and then we'll all be in the same boat
I'm not afraid of it either, but that has nothing to do with how financially secure I am. It has more to do with me not seeing a path to AI replacing engineers in any significant way.
“Therefore, the detailed visual information you’re getting is from the car in front of you, but the information of interest is outside of your focus.”
This must be one of the reasons you get fatigue and exhaustion during traffic rush hour due to so much visual information.