This photo illustrates a common theme – that modern audiences of anything spend too much time taking pictures of events they are attending rather than looking at them with their own eyes.

You hear the criticism levelled by musicians and sportsmen and women as well as by commentators.

I think we shouldn’t judge too harshly. This trend speaks to a deeper human need – to make our mark on the world, to record the fact that we were here.

These are hand stencils believed to have been created 39,000 years ago found in a cave in Spain – the earliest examples known to exist. This unknown cave dweller is making his or her mark on the world, very much as having a photo of an epic event you attended on your own phone is. The difference may not as great as we would like to believe.