Is this the reel life? Sports events confront whole new world of social media, influencers

While some event organisers ban or limit the presence of mobile phones, many encourage their constructive use

Madonna, Bob Dylan and Jack White have banned phones from their concerts. An exasperated Adele once asked an audience member: “Can you stop filming me? … You can enjoy it in real life rather than through your camera.”

In the sporting sphere, however, those bastions of decorum at Augusta National Golf Club are alone in waging war on mobile devices, employing a strict cell phone ban for patrons attending the US Masters. Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open Championship winner and veteran of 18 Masters, was hoofed off the premises this year after flouting the rule.

Contrast that staunch technophobia with the routine sight of fans hungrily filming and photographing in football stadiums and rugby grounds, courtside, poolside and ringside, on fairways and in arenas.

“People nowadays are constantly switching their attention,” Professor Chen Zhansheng, head of the department of psychology at the University of Hong Kong, said.