16 Celebs Who Got Rid Of Their Smartphones (Or Never Owned One At All) (2024)

Smartphones changed our lives in a lot of good ways, like helping us stay connected with friends who live far away. However, they've also changed our lives in bad ways, like putting an endless social media scroll of other people to compare ourselves to in the palms of our hands. Many people wisely take social media breaks, but those who can give up their smartphone entirely may be the wisest of us all.

Here are 16 celebs who don't use smartphones:

1. For Michael Cera, not having a smartphone is "a conscious choice because [he feels] a bit of fear about it, honestly, like [he'd] really lose control of [his] waking life."

He told the Hollywood Reporter, "Right when people started having smartphones, when it was Blackberries, I had lunch with a friend of mine who was my best friend at the time, and he'd just gotten a Blackberry, and for the whole meal he was typing emails, and I sat there lonely and bored. So I had an early aversion to them."

2. Ed Sheeran got a flip phone in 2017 as part of his New Year's resolution to stay off social media. When he told Adele about the switch over dinner, she thought he was "taking the mick out of her."

He told The Collector's Edition, "I got really, really overwhelmed and sad with a phone. I just spent my whole time just in a very low place. I got rid of it, and it was like a veil just lifted."

3. Justin Bieber doesn't have a cellphone, but he uses an iPad to communicate because it empowers him to limit who can be in contact with him.

He told Billboard, "I definitely learned how to have boundaries, and I just don’t feel like I owe anybody anything."

4. According to her goddaughter Miley Cyrus, Dolly Parton is "rarely on the phone" and primarily communicates through fax machine.

On Late Night with Seth Meyers, Miley said, "We do use the phone, but she does a fax, and then someone scans the fax, and they put it into a text message, and then that gets sent to me. ... And it's always signed."

5. Shailene Woodley got rid of her cellphone in 2014 because "there's a bigger lack of privacy than there's ever been, but there's also a bigger lack of camaraderie and community than there's ever been."

At the time, she told the Daily Beast, "If I were to have one, it would be a flip phone. ... Since I got rid of my phone, having to pull over and be like, 'Hey, buddy— do you know how to get here?' I'm talking to people more than I've ever talked to in my life because I no longer have that crutch. The more you get away from all the technological buzz, the more freedom you have."

However, in 2019, she told Jimmy Kimmel Live, "I have my iPhone still because it'll work in Wi-Fi, and it's just easier to text on. But I have a flip phone, and that's how I communicate. My iPhone has no data."

6. Christopher Walken has never owned a cellphone or a computer. He doesn't mind not having a phone because it's "a little bit like a watch...if you need one, somebody else has got it."

He told The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, "I just got to it too late. I think I'm right at a certain age where it just passed me by. I never got involved in it because it would be strange to have any 10-year-old be much better at it than I am."

7. Saswata Chatterjee doesn't feel he needs to carry a phone because "wherever [he goes], it's always pre-planned," but he'll "provide someone else's number to [his] family for any emergency" when he's working.

He told the Times of India, "Otherwise, I have a landline at home."

8. Sir Elton John "couldn't bear to have a phone." However, he "just [has] an iPad for the kids and [uses Skype] when [he's] not with them."

He told Jimmy Kimmel Live, "My life is fabulous.I don’t have people ringing me two times a minute."

9. Kate Beckinsale is "not much interested in an iPhone." She prefers a flip phone, like the red Verizon LG she had as of 2016.

She told Slash Gear, "That's about the extent of it. I don't like my iPod. I like a nice record player and a book. I'm very much about that."

10. Dierks Bentley went shopping for a new phone when the iPhone 6 came out, but he asked the Verizon salesperson for "the cheapest, lowest tech phone you have."

He told People, "I got a flip phone. It has a camera because of the kids, but it's pretty basic. This one was like 99 cents. I'm trying to call more and text less. I don't want to check my phone 5,000 times a day anymore. It was getting to me. I'm bringing old back."

11. Chris Pine "had a flip phone for four years," but he got an iPhone in 2022 because he "felt pummeled by how difficult being analog [was]." However, he hated how much of a time-sucker it was and felt ready to "immediately go back to a flip phone" because he "could tell you everything about Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian but not a f*cking thing about literature."

He told the Happy Sad Confused podcast, "Having just gotten this crack machine, it's really bad. These machines are really, really, really bad. ... I don't know if my soul can handle it."

12. After getting a $32 million signing bonus in 2016, NFL quarterback Andrew Luck still kept his old flip phone because "it's a comfort thing" and he didn't "want to be connected 24/7."

He told USA Today, "This phone is maybe sort of a reminder that you don't have to be connected. And it's nice to get away. It's nice to turn your phone off. ... It has text. [It] can text and call. What else do you need? And I have an iPad."

Later that year, he upgraded to a slightly newer flip phone.

13. Despite being a billionaire, Warren Buffett used a $20 Samsung flip phone for many years. Because his company is one of Apple's largest investors, he got an iPhone in 2020, but he doesn't use "all its facilities like most people."

He told CNBC, "You're looking at an 89-year-old guy who's barely beginning to get with it."

14. In 2009, Vince Vaughn planned to "never own [a cellphone] unless [he] absolutely [had] to."

He toldContactmusic, "The phone thing drives me crazy. Everyone is phoning and texting. It's become a problem for me with payphones becoming extinct. Now I just drive the people around me mad by using theirs. I just started to email, which I like, but cellphones drive me mad."

15. Simon Cowell stopped using his smartphone in 2017 because he got overwhelmed by all the unread messages and "realized it was actually stopping [him] from working or living properly."

He told Entertainment Tonight, "It's very simple. It means you don't wake up to, like, 50 text messages you can't reply to. And that's what happened one morning — I woke up and I've got 52 unread messages. And I thought, even if I reply to every one of those, I'm going to get another replying back, and then I'm going to get more that day...so I just turned it off and I went a month, three months, then a year, then two years, then three years. And I love it."

16. And finally, Sarah Jessica Parker doesn't have a cellphone because she doesn't "like being behind in both phone calls and emails."

In 2013, she told E!, "So I chose emails because when you're on a set you can carefully and sneakily check a BlackBerry, but you can't return a phone call. Hearing 'Your voicemail is full' is horrifying to me."