I choose window seats, and keep the shade open throughout the flight, for both day and night flights:
(1)I think it is fun to identify landmarks (buildings, rivers, highways etc.). IMHO one super example is seeing Hoover Dam (near Las Vegas), in the day it is very impressive and at night it is lit up.
(2)Flying in a "sardine can" is very confining, when the shade is open, I feel as if the inside and outside merge making the plane more spacious.
PS: Shortly after 9-11 I was on a flight from Europe to JFK (AA), about 45 minutes before landing the pilot announced: for obvious reasons all shades had to be in the closed position. What was obvious in 2001 is not so obvious now, it seems (from other threads here on FT), pax are requested to keep the shades in the open position (for the final 45 minutes) on many flights.