The Masters golf tournament is one of my favorite sporting events of the year, and there has always been something that’s fascinated me about it.
It’s not how the course looks so picturesque with its perfect grass, bright flowers, how the sunshine hits the trees and how serene and peaceful it seems. It’s not the Masters’ racist and sexist past history. It’s not how they keep the concession prices so cheap.
As someone born in 2000, the Masters’ no-cellphone policy has always fascinated me. After watching the Masters last weekend and seeing everyone in the moment, I can’t help but feel no phones for fans at all sports would be a refreshing change in a world addicted to screens.
Electronic devices, such as cellphones, cameras, laptops, tablets and others, are prohibited on the grounds of August National Golf Club on tournament days at the Masters. Violating this policy will get a patron removed from the grounds and banned forever. It’s a severe punishment for a tournament that is one of, if not the, hardest tickets to get in sports.
Yet, in a world that is dominated by addictive smartphones, the feedback is nearly all positive. People are happy to unplug and live in the moment in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Almost like an addiction to a drug, people talk about withdrawal from their phones, instinctively reaching in their pockets at the Masters for a phone that’s not there. But once they kick that withdrawal, they’re free.
That’s fascinated me because I’m just old enough to remember life before smartphones, but young enough that they have been around me for more than half my life.
I remember having to tell my parents where I’m going or for them to tell me to come back at a certain time from playing sports. It’s a legendary story in my family about how my friend Rob was stranded at soccer practice because both of his parents thought the other one was picking him up, and we ended up dropping him off at home.
Those types of stories wouldn’t happen today. Everyone’s neck is always down on their phone instead of interacting. Social media apps are addictive and it shows. Recent studies show Americans spend more than five hours per day on average on their phone. For Gen Z (my generation), it’s more than six and a half hours per day.
I’m not immune. I’m on my phone too much, and it’s sad to say, but I have a device that blocks me from accessing social media at certain times.
So, it would be a good thing to have sports be a refuge from the addiction of smartphones.
Looking at professional sports, many people don’t get to see them very often. If people were required to be off their phone, they’d interact with others next to them, learning things about their favorite players they didn’t know before. They’d leave all the anxieties stored in that metal rectangle behind and enjoy those world-class athletes. Fans would cheer harder. Heck, I’m sure more concessions and merchandise would be sold just as something to do during the breaks.
A small element that would improve would be the in-game entertainment in timeouts and halftime. People would actually have to be entertained with all the games and gimmicks instead of looking down at their phones if they weren’t interested.
At the high school and college level, the experience would improve a lot. Kids between 15 and 22 don’t know life before cellphones, and that means a lot fewer social skills for those intimate settings like being in a cheering section. Unfortunately, it shows. You don’t hear as many chants or kids cheering as loudly because they’re on their phones, some because of social anxiety.
No phones would bring these kids out of their shells, get them united and cheering louder for their friends and classmates. They’d talk to people they usually wouldn’t and enhance their social skills. This would enhance the experience compared to kids checking Snapchat or Instagram every three minutes and not being as invested as before.
Now, I know there would be drawbacks, like the ability to post to social media along with taking photos and videos. But fans can do it at the Masters. Why can’t you? Also, no phones could bring back more importance to photographers who could take photos of fans and either sell or give them away.
People would be worried about potential emergencies and access to them without a phone. But emergencies happened before the first iPhone and people survived.
Also, to everyone who would complain about not taking videos or photos, how often do you look at those? I’ve been to a half dozen NBA games, and I don’t know the last time I’ve gone through all the poorly shot videos and blurry photos. Do you ever look back at some social media post five years ago and think, ‘Wow, I’m proud of myself for that one.’ Because I don’t.
Back to reality, I know this won’t happen. There’s no sports czar to snap his fingers and make it happen. It would be hard to enforce. But even if one school or professional sports team followed the Masters’ lead, it would be a success.
So, no-phone policy or not, put down your phone and enjoy the game. Social media can wait, but the game doesn’t stop for you when you look down.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
