It's that time of the week when I like to reflect, but before that allow me to tell this anecdote which fuelled today's post topic. Oh and the photo above is one that I took on a recent trip to Connemara with the family and I thought that it was a good accompaniment to this reflective post.
It's April and for anyone with any level of interest in golf that means the Masters at Augusta is on the agenda. I have already posted previews and reviews, but this post is less about golf and more about people. It specifically talks about a rule at Augusta National golf club that may have helped perform a miracle yesterday.
I firmly believe that the old rule for patrons at Augusta that I am about to tell you about saved lives yesterday. The authorities at Augusta deserve a lot of credit for maintaining this old tradition.
I am talking about the cellphone or mobile phone ban which is in place. Since the green opened in 1933, phones have been banned, now of course this was not an issue in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s or 80s, but since the 90s phones are as common as a thumb on a hand, yes everyone, well almost everyone has one. My Dad doesn't have one, which is why I said almost, but that's a story for another day.
Billy Payne, then chairman at Augusta was queried on the policy a few years ago he didn't mince his words saying:
“You’ll have to ask the next chairman. That’s not going to change while I’m chairman. I just don’t think it’s appropriate. The noise is an irritation to not only the players — the dialing, the conversation. It’s a distraction and that’s the way we’ve chosen to deal with it.”
It's a conversation that regularly comes up actually and current chairman, Fred Ridley, also fielded questions on it recently and explained that the general public actually liked the policy saying:
“I think our patrons appreciate our cellphone policy,”
“I know that we have now become an outlier, if not the only outlier in golf, as well, at allowing cell phones.”
I personally think that it is a great idea and other sports, concerts and the like should follow suit, so that people are actually present when they attend a sporting event or a show or the likes.
I mean people go to "watch" their favourite team or band perform and they spend too much time fiddling with their phone taking selfies, photos, uploading images, sending messages, tweeting etc. They are nor really present though when they behave like this and I am no saint myself in this way. I'm always on the lookout for ideas for Hive posts and it's always nice to have some photos to accompany the post, but I am mindful to grab those quick snaps and put the phone away.
That is not a good enough excuse though, and it would be so much better if I simply left the phone at home, but the modern world does not make that very practical, so lockers for phones at sporting events and concerts are becoming more popular and for me, it's a great idea. As people we need to get better at being more present.
A few of you may be scratching your heads thinking, ok, nice story @Ablaze, but I don't see any lives being saved.... Ok, point taken...
Let me get to that now, so picture the scene at Augusta National golf club in an alternative universe where phones are actually allowed.
A large group are sitting in their deck chairs and waiting for the next group of players to reach the green. The wind is blowing hard and rain is forecast, so they take shelter beneath the log poll pines that pepper the property.
Half of these patrons are on their phones. Reading messages, writing messages, updating twitter, writing blogs, checking the leaderboard, making bets; the list goes on.
There is a reason why phones are banned while driving, the are obviously a distraction, so in this Augusta alternative reality where phones are allowed, would the patrons have reacted as quickly to move out of the way as they fell an crushed chairs? I don't think so,I reckon that some would have been so engrossed, that they would not have heard the warning signs and there would have been injuries without doubt and possibly fatalities.
Here are some photographs that my friend sent onto me that show the size of trees that we are talking about here.
Lots of fans and players got a proper fright. Sahith Theegala said:
"We were cresting the fairway on 15. We thought it was a scoreboard or a grandstand. We were hoping it wasn't something that hit anybody."
Another player Harrison Crowe said:
"You could feel it down there. This little tornado whipped up. It caught those trees. You could see them start to sway. They were lucky no one got killed. Very, very lucky."
I heard a patron on the news saying:
"I was sitting, looking, waiting for the next group to come up to the tee and it fell maybe eight to 10 chairs to our left. I stood up and screamed and thought, 'Is it going to fall on me?' It fell to the left of us and it was so scary. If the wind had been blowing a slightly different direction, we might have got hit."
Another patron was interviewed and added:
"Pinecones were hitting us in the back, we turned around and looked up and heard a huge cracking noise and the tree basically crushed 10 chairs that were sitting there. Luckily we got everyone out of there. We were blessed."
Yet another Patron had this to say:
"I was talking to friends next to me and all of sudden we heard a crack. And there were three trees across the pond, and all of a sudden we saw them falling and everybody - it was just like ants. They were like, scattering just like ants from beneath. All three fell at the same time. And then I just grabbed my friends' hands we were like, Is everyone OK?' And it was silent."
I spend too much time on my phone. My wife spends too much time on her phone. Our kids don't have phones and won't be allowed until they are twelve, but inevitably they too will end up spending too much time on them. So many friends and family are caught up in the same cycle.
It is a societal problem and one that we will have to try to address and fix together as a society. I find it encouraging that certain comedians and musicans are bringing in a requirement that phones are not allowed inside the show, and I welcome it with open arms.
We really should not have to really on the authorities to put these boundaries in place though should we? I am in favour of them doing it, but I also feel that each and every one of us needs to try to alter our behaviour and become a bit more present. So much passes us by when we have our heads dipped into our digital companions.
One of the most concerning things is the influence that we are having on the next generation who have been born into this digital age and who know no different.
Screens are most certainly a modern day ill and one which we need to be mindful of, as they are slowing decaying part of the fabric of society and our habitual ability to communicate effectively. I do worry for the next generation who have never known a pre digital age when things were simpler and everyone was present; not trying to multitask between reality and their digital avatars of social media and other online platforms.
What do you think? Are our devices too pervasive? Did the Masters anti-phone policy save some lives on Friday?
The images used throughout are all my own
