British pop sensation Ed Sheeran revealed that he's been phone-free since 2015.
In a recent episode of the Therapuss podcast with Jake Shane, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter shared that he decided to ditch his mobile phone due to the relentless pressure to respond to messages and the decline of genuine human connections.
Sheeran humorously pointed out to the host that they couldn’t exchange phone numbers since he no longer owns a cell phone to call or text him on.
However, his team provides a phone for social media purposes during events. This approach allows him to limit his time spent on texting and focus on real-life interactions, which he finds more fulfilling.
Reflecting on the last time he owned a mobile device, Sheeran said, “I had the same number from like age 15, I think. I got famous, and I had 10,000 contacts in my phone that would just – people would just text the whole time. And I was just constantly in touch with a lot of people.
I feel like with phones, everyone expects you to reply, and if you don’t reply, it’s rude. Sometimes you’re just not in a headspace to reply, you’re busy or doing whatever, but then you reply, then they reply back… and suddenly you’re in like 40 conversations at once…
“Nothing creative has ever come out of being connected the whole time. Boredom is what makes someone think of an iPhone.”