Christopher Walken Takes Digital Detox to the Next Level

AROUND THE BEND, Christopher Walken, 2004
Warner Independent/Everett Collection

While many of us aim to lessen our smartphone usage and try some new hobbies that do not involve a screen, some people take it to the next level. Instead of a digital detox, they truly do not use technology like the average person. Actor Christopher Walken is one of these people, as he recently opened up about how he doesn’t own a cell phone and doesn’t subscribe to any streaming services.

He explained, “I don’t have technology. I only have a satellite dish on my house. So I’ve seen Severance on DVDs that they’re good enough to send me. I don’t have a cell phone. I’ve never emailed or, what do you call it, Twittered.”

SEVERANCE, from left: Christopher Walken, Claudia Robinson, In Perpetuity', (Season 1, ep. 103, aired Feb. 25, 2022)

Apple TV+/Everett Collection

Walken stars as Burt Goodman in the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ series Severance. He added that working on the first season, which earned him an Emmy nomination, was “a very special job. It was mysterious, but funny and scary, which I’ve always felt was a good combination. Then there was the fact of [series director] Ben Stiller. I was in a play with him 30 years ago, and his mother and father were friends of mine. There’s John Turturro. I’ve known him for 40 years and we were young actors together. When you know somebody for a long time, it shows. You can tell that these actors like each other.”

Walken is just one of several actors who prefer the nostalgia of living without technology. Whether they cite privacy or security concerns or simply want a slower pace of life while working as a famous star, it seems that this trend will continue.

Find out some of the other stars who don’t own a cell phone and why:

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