Grieving Mother Reunites With A Virtual Version Of Her Deceased Daughter Wearing VR Glasses

Feb 17, 2020 by apost team

Losing a child is the worst pain imaginable. In a matter of moments, all of a parent’s hopes and dreams for their beloved little one are lost.

While many find solace in the belief that they will see their child again in the afterlife, the grief of some parents is so extreme that they cannot find any closure.

To that end, a company in South Korea recently created a program that helped the mother of a deceased child see her daughter again in virtual reality.

Jang Ji-sung lost her 7-year-old daughter Nayeon in 2016. In the years since the loss of Nayeon, Jang hasn’t been able to move on with her life. Hearing of Jang’s grief, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, or MBC, asked the mother to appear on a documentary they were making entitled Meeting You.

In the segment, MBC worked with experts to design Nayeon’s physical appearance and voice so that it matched her when she was alive.

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When the big day came, Jang put on a VR headset and touch-sensitive gloves and entered the digital world. The next thing she knew, Jang was standing in a beautiful garden. In front of Jang was her deceased daughter. Approaching her mother, Nayeon asked Jang if she missed her.

As tears streamed down her face, Jang told Nayeon that she missed her very much. Handing her mother a flower, Nayeon told her mother that she was no longer hurting. After spending some time in the garden, Nayeon told Jang that she was tired and needed to rest. As Nayeon went to sleep, Jang said her final goodbyes.

All of the studio audience was visibly moved by the interaction between Jang and the digital version of Nayeon. Jang’s husband and her two other children could all be seen with tears in their eyes throughout the exchange between mother and daughter.

Later speaking with reporters, Jang says that seeing Nayeon again has given her the realization that she will love her daughter more if she misses her less. The young mom, who carries some of Nayeon’s ashes with her everywhere in a necklace, feels that similar interactions will help others who are coping with grief.

Despite Jang’s positive feelings of her encounter with Nayeon, many psychiatrists and grief counselors such as Dr. Sarah Jones, Deputy Dean of Computing, Engineering, and Media at De Montfort University in Leicester, have come out against digital creations of dead loved ones. 

"One of the main concerns is the right of the deceased. Would they want to be digitally brought back to life? Who controls the words that they say? Could this be manipulated to force conversations that they wouldn't have agreed to?" Dr. Sarah Jones stated in an interview with MailOnline. "The further concern is how long do you keep that relationship alive? Is it a one-time opportunity to enable closure or do you then prolong that relationship?

What do you think of how Jang met a digital recreation of her deceased daughter? Do you think that this is an acceptable way of overcoming grief? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to hear what others have to say about this.