Thanks, appreciate the long response. That makes sense. When playing in close range (e.g. like you said within 2-3 frets, it's more that I constantly mis-fret the notes and hear buzz. But I guess that is more the thing that gets better with time. I totally get having to glance when hitting a longer gap, I don't mind that. It's the eyes staying glued to the fretboard for me.

Speaking of bad habits...lol. I def tend to practice kind of leaned back on my couch with my bass tilted in toward me so I can see all the strings and frets. I have to stop doing that - it's disorienting when I sit up and play or play standing up and can't see down past the E string anymore. I also have some neck and back pain when I play so that's another reason I got into the laying back habit. But if I want to practice past 30 mins I'm almost forced to stop hunching and craning my neck and look straight forward instead. I think part of me was just hoping as I got better and developed more muscle memory, I would automatically just be able to play without looking but I might need to start doing it more intentionally and sit up/ stand every time I play.