When you look at a star that’s light years away, are you really looking into the past?

That’s true.  We’re seeing light that left the object however many years ago it was.

So the aliens can’t really see what you’re doing right now, they’re probably watching what you did a few years back.

Yes.  If we sent a message to a friend on a planet around a star just 3 light years away we couldn't get a reply for at least six years.  Just imagine the stupid mobile phone conversations.  "Hey, watcha doing". Six years later.  "Just hanging around the picture theatre".

Yes, just like when you look at a video from years ago.

Yes. You're looking into the past all the time.  You cannot see the present because the speed of light is finite and it takes time for the brain to register images.

The light from our very own sun takes minutes to reach us, so years is okay too.

The speed of light is actually pretty slow.

Of course.  The nearest star is almost 4 light years away.  That means, when we look at it, we are seeing it as it was 4 years ago.  And, that is for the closest star!

Yes, any star at 10 lightyears distance is shown as it was 10 years ago. It's just the limitation of the speed of light.

Yes, in fact everything you look at is in the past, even if its just a Nano second.

No, your just looking at stars lol