Asked recently at a press conference why he thought attendances at National Collegiate Athletic Association football games were in decline, the Northwestern University coach Pat Fitzgerald posited an intriguing, if slightly odd theory. Picking up his mobile and waving it in the air before reporters, he proceeded to lay the blame squarely at the door of technology. “I think phones,” he said. “I think technology has been the decline in attendance, No 1.”
Fitzgerald went on to tell the story of being out with his wife for a meal and being irritated by the sight of all four members of the two couples at the next table spending their entire evening staring at and playing with their smartphones instead of talking to each other and suggested that younger sports fans are incapable of enjoying anything without the aid of technology.
Written by Barry Glendenning
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/24/filming-digital-distraction-live-sport-iphones under the title “Filming not watching: is digital distraction changing how we experience live sport? | Barry Glendenning”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
