ABC/Nicole WilderThe year is 2019, and Jack White still doesn’t have a cell phone.
“I’ve never owned one,” the musician tells the U.K.’s Channel 4 News. “So when I’m out there, I’m an anomaly and I’m looking at everybody, and to me, everyone sort of looks silly.”
White’s aversion to phones shouldn’t be too surprising — after all, he bans them from his shows. He says that the phone ban has actually been a great success, and that “everyone loved it.” However, he’s concerned about what it means that people had to be told to stop using their phones during shows, instead of doing it willingly.
“It brings up these real big questions like, ‘So you need someone to tell you that you can’t use it to actually not use it?'” White says. “How sad, that’s pretty sad. Again, coming from someone who isn’t part of it, it’s easy for me to say, because I don’t have that addiction.”
“If you can’t choose to stop drinking for a day, it’s got that much of a hold on you, that’s a sad thing,” he continues. “So the same thing with that, if you can’t just put [your phone] down for an hour and experience life in a real way, that’s sad.”
White’s phone ban will be in effect on his upcoming tour with The Raconteurs, who launch a U.S. outing in support of their new album Help Us Stranger in July.
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