system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is it when I scan an area with my eyes, they move in a jerky motion from point to point, but when following a moving object, they rotate smoothly?

Try it: Scan across your wall with your eyes, notice "jumps" from point to point. Now stare straight into your eyes in the mirror while rotating your head, or following your hand while moving it across your field of vision.

Why can my eyes not smoothly scan across an area or surface? Are my eyes actually moving smoothly but the brain only registers certain "points of interest"?
gpt
Because there's no point to track nothing so we haven't developed the ability to do so.  And between the "jumps" (saccades) we are technically blind.  If you look in the mirror and look at one side to the other you can't see yourself moving your eyes.  It just happens.  Your eyes are not moving smoothly, they are jumping from one fixation to another at a speed of 800 degrees a second.