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Or alternative interpretation: Parrots are highly social creatures who love hanging out and socialising with other birds. Even a relatively happy parrot who is

Or alternative interpretation: Parrots are highly social creatures who love hanging out and socialising with other birds. Even a relatively happy parrot who is kept with a few other birds to keep them company, and has access to rooms to fly can feel under-socialised and under-stimulated. (This is not a dig to the commenter in particular. Even if you are richer than a king, and have an aviary zoos would be jealous of probably your parrots are not getting as much stimulation as they would be getting in the wild.) As a substitute to the real socialisation it is craving it finds watching bird videos agreeable. Basically i wouldn’t call a starving man begging for scraps “addicted”. They just have an unfulfilled need. They found a way to fulfill that need (more or less) and they are pursuing what they found to work for them. This might be bothersome for the keepers of course, but it is not the bird who choose to become their captive pet. (I want to emphasise here that I assume that the commenter is a lovely, dedicated, bird-loving person who provides a large flock of friends to their parrots and all the enrichement they can think of and money can buy. This is not a comment on them doing anything wrong. Simply an observation that there are some parrots whose needs are neight impossible to fully meet in captivity.) If the comment would be about the parrot neglecting feeding, sleeping, or socialising with other real birds when they are provided ad libitum with bird videos that would be much more of a sign to me about the addictiveness of the videos.

MisterTea 1y ago
The bird is captive and isolated from its fellow birds so of course it craves socialization.
bArray 1y ago
Unfortunately he is isolated from his species (they are quite rare and endangered - we look out all the time for a female for him), but he flies a lot and socialises with other hook beak birds. > If the comment would be about the parrot neglecting feeding, sleeping, or socialising with other real birds when they are provided ad libitum with bird videos that would be much more of a sign to me about the addictiveness of the videos. He eats well (and varied), sleeps well, socialises with other birds and he plays games with us too. He hasn't got feather loss and he's not getting into weird psychotic behaviours. He has certain routines in his day where he waits for example to be let out in the morning and he puts himself back into his cage. I will say that when you eat near him, he gets excited and seems to be begging (or demanding) food. And when I say "aggressive" with mobile phones, I mean that he lands on you and pecks you (not nearly at full force) until you put on something he wants to watch. It's still not clear to me if it's addiction or just basic need.

MisterTea 1y ago

The bird is captive and isolated from its fellow birds so of course it craves socialization.

bArray 1y ago

Unfortunately he is isolated from his species (they are quite rare and endangered - we look out all the time for a female for him), but he flies a lot and socialises with other hook beak birds. > If the comment would be about the parrot neglecting feeding, sleeping, or socialising with other real birds when they are provided ad libitum with bird videos that would be much more of a sign to me about the addictiveness of the videos. He eats well (and varied), sleeps well, socialises with other birds and he plays games with us too. He hasn't got feather loss and he's not getting into weird psychotic behaviours. He has certain routines in his day where he waits for example to be let out in the morning and he puts himself back into his cage. I will say that when you eat near him, he gets excited and seems to be begging (or demanding) food. And when I say "aggressive" with mobile phones, I mean that he lands on you and pecks you (not nearly at full force) until you put on something he wants to watch. It's still not clear to me if it's addiction or just basic need.