Three Dark Truths of the Holiday Season

And how a technological miracle stands to remedy them.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again. Families and friends gather together, traveling long distances in harsh weather to share a festive meal and exchange gifts. It’s a time of warmth amid the winter chill, light against the frosty nights, and rest after the long year’s toil.?

At least, that is the ideal. But it ignores the darker underside of the festive season as it is currently celebrated worldwide, with its focus on materialism, exacerbation of climate change, and exclusion of those unlucky enough to lack large and supportive extended families.

As in any good Christmas tale, though, there is a chance for light and redemption at the end of this story. Like Scrooge after his encounters with the three ghosts, we have an opportunity – using augmented reality (AR) technology – to address these dark truths and realize the heartwarming ideals of the Holiday season.

The Specter at our Feast

First, it is time to acknowledge that today’s Holiday cheer is driven by an interwoven set of unsustainable and unhealthy activities, both commercial and social.

A few weeks of frenzied shopping drives a year-round increase in global emissions. The gift wrapping paper we buy to cover presents is an environmental disaster in its own right, since most of it cannot be recycled. The glittery and shiny designs so popular at Christmas are especially problematic, full of microplastics that pollute waterways and impact wildlife. It also has a significant carbon footprint. According to the OECD, just 1kg of gift wrap generates 3.5kg CO2 during production!

Discarded wrapping paper, decorations, and packaging all contribute to an annual mountain of additional trash. Americans discard half their total yearly paper waste during the Holidays and throw away 25 percent more general waste than usual in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.?

The supply chains producing vast volumes of merchandise to be given as gifts are staffed mainly by low-paid laborers, often in oppressive regimes. And since the pandemic, we are buying more online, placing more pressure on those lengthy supply chains while increasing product miles.

The season takes a toll on our emotions as well as the environment.?

Shopping for all these gifts, whether online or braving the crowds in person, can be stressful – not to mention the worry of how to pay for them. Decorating homes, preparing lavish meals, and hosting friends or family can all contribute to seasonal stress and depression.?

A poll released this month found anxiety amongst Americans rising as the holidays approached, with nearly a third reporting they expected to be more stressed out this holiday season than last.? And those with few close friends or family members living near enough to visit can have it particularly rough. Loneliness and social isolation exist all year round but are felt more acutely during the holidays.?

Even for those lucky enough to be with large families, the way we use technology in the 21st century means people increasingly spend these precious days staring at their screens. A New York Times article recently shared advice on how to enjoy holiday gatherings. It has a whole section addressing just this problem, headlined “Everyone is on a phone.”?

A Promise for Christmas Future

Let’s be realistic: the perfect Christmas may always have been an unattainable fantasy. But advances in technology have not yet brought us much closer to the joyful shared experiences we know to nourish our relationships and enhance our well-being. Instead, more and more, we are alone, together.

But we can do something about that.?

Using augmented reality (AR) technology currently being developed, we can offer solutions to many of the existential problems explored above. We can make it easier to share the best gift you can give anyone during the Holiday season - your love, attention, and presence.

The advent of portable phones and devices fooled us for a while into thinking they would help us achieve that sense of togetherness. There’s no question these devices are great if you want to make a call, exchange concise written information, or share photos of festive moments that have already happened. But what if we had the means to create magical and memorable moments with friends and family – in real time? What if we could access interactive encounters that would allow us to play games, have fun petting a puppy, or explore an immersive new realm together? That’s far more exciting than some old Christmas movie.?

Family Time, Augmented

Social augmented reality allows for all of this and more. It will enable us to manifest our imaginations within the real world we inhabit, creating communal experiences that actively enhance human connection rather than distracting us from it.?

AR will make it possible to give virtual gifts – such as games and digital pets, for instance – reducing carbon output and simplifying stretched supply chains. No gift wrap required.

Such experiences work just as well whether we are in the same room, or thousands of miles apart. Grandparents will be able to race toy cars with their youngest grandchildren on Christmas morning or walk a virtual dog around their neighborhood with the silent teen who would never think to pick up the phone and chat.

The Holiday season may compound loneliness, but virtual companions can be an effective means to alleviate it.? Seventy percent of isolated seniors given lifelike robotic pets in a pilot program reported feeling less lonely a year later. There is growing evidence that experiential gifts foster stronger relationships than material ones.

Finally, AR can overcome the dissonance of today’s siloed social applications, where human-scale interaction has been swamped by more and more noise. By allowing everyone to participate in the same shared virtual experience, we can facilitate intersubjectivity – a sense we have experienced an event in the material world by being able to confirm it through what our peers experienced as well. Once these experiences align, we get the feeling of it “being real.”

There is no escaping phones. So let’s use them in a better way.

Rather than having everyone sitting silently at the table, eyes fixed on entirely separate digital worlds, intersubjective AR makes it possible for everyone to enjoy being present, together, and sharing an experience. It’s good for the planet, too.

A classic Holiday happy ending.