Writer: Nuttawut Kulkaew

Editor: Wittaya Wonglor

Christmas connects nations and cultures at the end of December with its celebrations among loved ones and family. Christmas will become more than a festival but an example of new ways to connect. FutureTales Lab explores 3 trends for Christmas in 2050.

1. Convenience and Personalized Christmas

The most distinctive element of Christmas is the giving of presents. In the data-driven world, human preferences and consumption behaviors are becoming a new asset. Data is the new oil. How will e-commerce companies and brands use the consumer data they hold? How will customer relations be managed at each festival? We may see gift sets or sample product trials, such as a list of personalized supplements and vitamins. Customers can decide to buy a subscription or renew a brand membership in the next year. Unconventional marketing and promotions will be more prevalent. Gifts can be prepared in advance with artificial intelligence to find the right gift for each recipient.

Moreover, by 2050, we may see more widespread use of assistive technologies at the household level, such as IoT-enabled smart kitchens, 3D printing technology for food creation and decoration, service robots to help set up the venue, AR glasses to learn recipes with chefs and start cooking immediately.

2. Seamless Physical - Virtual Christmas

Extended reality (XR) technology and robust internet networks such as 5G or 6G will play a more significant role in everyday life, including VR/AR, holograms, and more, to connect people living in different places to spend time together. XR will allow users to create experiences and environments in the virtual world that the physical world cannot provide, such as nostalgic childhood homes, Santa's residences, and Wonderland. Features such as digital filters or translator programs will be further developed to help users filter the guests who will come to celebrate Christmas in the virtual world and avoid interacting with unwanted people. They may also get to know new people, even if they are foreigners. In addition to virtual world platforms, XR technology may also be used to enhance the experience of decorating places in the physical world to be more exciting, for example: Using holograms, lights, and signs (signage technologies). Internet of Senses technology could play a role in enabling people in both the physical and virtual worlds to experience sights, sounds, odors, tastes, and touch without the need for real food, smells, or stimuli. It may be done through digital technology devices. There are beginning to be experiments of scent mixers for home-use perfume concentrators, chopsticks that increase the saltiness of the food, and TV screens that allow the taste to be produced for experiments.

3. More Environment-Conscious Christmas

Humans produce up to 30% more waste during Christmas, with 230,000 tons of food waste and 114,000 tons of plastic waste. 35% of people admit throwing away more food during Christmas than at any other time of the year. Future Christmas celebrations will need to change, especially meat dishes, packaging, and decorating materials.

Surveys show that a Christmas meal at home serves an average of six people. A dining table often features meaty items such as mince pies, gravy, pigs in blankets, and especially turkey. These foods cause up to 23.5 kg of carbon dioxide emissions each, equivalent to a car traveling 75 miles (about 120 km). 10 million turkeys are consumed each year at Christmas, 80% of annual consumption. Research from the University of Oxford suggests lab-grown meat can reduce carbon emissions by 96%, land use by 98%, and energy consumption by 45%, which could boost household food security worldwide amid food security threats in 2040-50 from the climate crisis.

Materials, packaging, and elements should be switched to biodegradable or reusable materials. We may use edible clingfilm instead of single-use plastic. Toilet paper and wipes should also be massively made and used from natural, eco-friendly materials, such as banana peels or elephant dung. Even using light bulbs to decorate the place may require choosing organic electroluminescent diode (OLED) technology instead of traditional LEDs to reduce production costs and electricity costs. OLED can also choose the style, size, design, and light color.

Implications for the future:

- Growing numbers of vegetarians and greater concern about food intake and health may cause changes in dietary habits around the world in the future.

- Future festival celebrations could seamlessly blend physical and virtual experiences so people in different places can have a good time together.

- Young people may be led to believe that fairytale characters such as Santa Claus are real because virtual technologies let them to interact with their avatars directly. Parents, regulators, and platform owners should agree on the scope and role of the non-playable characters (NPCs) when interacting with young platform users to prevent misunderstandings and ensure user safety.

- The virtual economy will play a more significant role in society. Metaverse platforms, brands, and content creators will find opportunities to capture consumers' attention faster than their competitors and to persuade customers to create economic activities with them as quickly as possible.

- Large technology companies will play a role in the media industry, entertainment business, and e-commerce. They may integrate their products and services into every aspect of the consumer's life until they are inseparable. As a result, these organizations will become the most powerful because they hold the personal data of large numbers of people, including personal data, lifestyle, preferences, and the tendency to make decisions daily.

Reference:

- https://www.vox.com/culture/22577905/christmas-in-july-sale-history-2021-pandemic

- https://www.ericsson.com/en/blog/2020/12/future-of-christmas

- https://www.viessmann.co.uk/en/company/blog/christmas-in-2050.html

- https://www.uk-cpi.com/blog/what-will-christmas-look-like-in-the-future

- https://dtmates.com/en/about-dtm/christmas-in-the-future/

- https://www.altexsoft.com/blog/business/the-future-of-christmas-how-will-we-celebrate-in-10-years/

- https://vui.agency/en/blog/december-24th-2030-a-journey-into-the-future-of-christmas-and-smart-homes

- https://www.lbbonline.com/news/welcome-the-christmas-of-the-future-with-snta-from-spark-and-colenso-bbdo

- https://www.uk-cpi.com/blog/what-might-a-sustainable-christmas-of-the-future-look-like

- https://commercialwaste.trade/the-true-cost-of-christmas/

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