CD Voice | What is the goal of life as a spectator?

Imagine this.

The soccer season is coming to a close. After months of hard-scrabble, grueling competition, China's top two teams are to meet on the field to decide who is the best.

Beijing's Guoan will be the home team, playing against Hengda from Gangzhou.

On the big day, thousands of supporters from both sides crowd outside Worker's Stadium in the capital. They are divided into two chanting, cheering, singing and seething masses.

As the gates open, a river of green-clad Beijing supporters gushes into one side off the stadium, while a red mass of Guangzhou fans rushes into the other side.

The game gets underway, and from the very beginning it's a hard-fought duel. On both sides, strikers repeatedly dart into what they hope are gaps in the other side's defense, only to be repelled. 

Minute after minute. Upfield, downfield, back and forth. 

With only 30 seconds left on the clock, the game remains scoreless. It's not for want of effort. Both teams are playing their hearts out. They're just too evenly matched.

Now it's down to five seconds, and suddenly a Guangzhou striker gains control of the ball all by himself in front of the Beijing goal. He fires a rocket blast toward the upper right corner. 

The goalkeeper makes a mighty lunge, but it's hopeless.

Goooooal!       

The striker leaps into the air and lets out a triumphant shout as his teammates run to congratulate him. 

His cry echoes ... in the absolute silence of the stadium. 

Then the players realize something is wrong. They stop where they stand and look around, at each other, at the team benches and at the crowd. 

Not a sound. 

Everyone, on both team benches and in every seat in the sold-out stadium, is oblivious to the world. All stand or sit mesmerized by the mobile phone in the palms of their hands. 

A Guangzhou defender grasps what has happened and rushes off the field. He runs to the bench, grabs his phone, opens weibo and types, "Guangzhou Hengda Wins 1-0. Champions!"

A roar slowly begins to rise in the stadium, and it gradually swells to a deafening crescendo as netizens around China forward the message and fans in the stadium learn the outcome of the game. 

A ridiculous tale? All right, but there is a point. 

It seems to me that we have become entirely too enthralled by the breadth of media available at our fingertips via mobile phones.  

Look around, everywhere in public, you'll see people -- even behind the wheel of a car -- oblivious to all except their phone's 4- or 5-inch display screen. 

Years ago, it was the same with television, at least in my country, the United States. People ignored themselves, each other and life in general to sit for hours glued to the TV screen. 

But ironically, an advantage of TV over the mobile phone is that you can't carry it around with you. Regardless of how addicted you are to TV, there are forced breaks. 

I wonder what future generations will think of this mobile phone craze.

About the broadcaster

Greg Fountain is a copy editor and occasional presenter for China Daily. Before moving to Beijing in January, 2016 he worked for newspapers in the Middle East and UK. He has an M.A in Print Journalism from the University of Sheffield, a B.A in English and History from the University of Reading and a Basic Food Hygiene Certificate from a pub in South Yorkshire.

More 'CD Voice' Stories

CHINADAILY

RealTimeChina

长按识别二维码
关注CD君