Who’s afraid of the metaverse? A reality Christmas might be scarier, but I’ll brave it

But reality can be super boring compared with the wonders of these artificially created worlds beyond worlds. If you’ve tried a VR headset, you can attest to this.

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It’s difficult to articulate why it’s important to be physically present with other people, but we know it is, especially after COVID lockdowns. Why didn’t Zoom Friday night drinks carry on beyond lockdowns?

Two Christmases ago, my husband, daughter and I were locked down. We gaffa-taped an iPad to a chair at the dinner table and Zoomed family near and far. It was like some multi-headed guest. You couldn’t make eye contact with anyone or read the body language of your uncle who’s on his fifth cab sav or whack your dad on the shoulder for making an off-colour joke or hug your niece.

This Christmas, most of us can travel again to be with each other in person. We know that seeing each other through a screen isn’t enough.

As Pope Francis said at Mass in North Macedonia, “We fed ourselves on dreams of splendour and grandeur, and ended up consuming distraction, insularity and solitude. We gorged ourselves on networking and lost the taste of fraternity.”

I’m going to thoroughly embrace being physically present with family this Christmas. I might even try jogging outside.

Cherie Gilmour is a freelance writer.

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