If you ever have to fly and cannot avoid it - get a window seat and then you have control over lowering the shade so you can’t see out. I always opt for an aisle seat and then it is up to my seatmate whether to open the shade or not. Or like @Sharon_E said - over the wing as that blocks the view of the ground.
Normally you can only see the ground for a little while and then you are above the clouds with nothing but sky above and fluffy white below - but not always. The view from 30,000 feet is nothing like looking down from a tall building. It doesn’t look real - like a tiny map - no sense of how high you really are.
I had a woman sit next to me on one flight and she had obviously been drinking hard liquor at the bar before she got on. I struck up a conversation with her and it was the first time she’d ever flown so was using the alcohol to relax her frayed nerves.
I explained all the weird sensations and clunks she would experience (gear going up, plane dropping when flaps are raised, etc) and by the time we took off I had her laughing and relaxed. She had the window seat.
She was fascinated by the view from the plane of the ground. When we reached New York we flew right past the Statue of Liberty and she was taking lots of pics with her cell phone and forgot all about her nervousness. She was a delightful seat companion.
Viva the plants!