This is actually a real phenomenon. They tested this in several studies, and looking at another person, like when you’re sitting across a table, creates more psychosocial cues for confrontation. You can try it with your partner of choice: cuddle with one of you spooning the other, and talk about something mildly upsetting or embarassing to you, then repeat while holding hands and sitting across a table directly looking at each other.
It is almost as if this whole “face-to-face” thing that was brought up so much in the online meeting debate when companies insisted on video calls isn’t always as universally helpful as some people think. Almost as if human interactions are complex rather than simplistic.
I think that’s why therapy over gaming is helping.
“the priest in the box” makes it sound more like a sadistic experiment of Schrödinger’s
