British pop singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran has revealed that since 2015, he has not owned a mobile phone.
The Grammy winner explained during episode of Therapuss podcast with Jake Shane, he ditched his phone due to the constant pressure to reply to messages and the loss of real-life interactions.
Sheeran told the host that they couldn’t exchange phone numbers because he doesn’t have a cell phone to call or text him with.
According to the 33-year-old musician, he uses an iPad and prefers email, which allows him to respond at his own pace. He said having a phone made him feel obligated to respond instantly, leading to stress and rudeness when he ignored messages.
However, the “Shape of You” singer admitted that his team gives him a phone to use when he attends events just for the purpose of being active on social media.
Sheeran said; “I don’t have a number, but you can have my email. That isn’t me playing you off either. I have something to like video stuff that would then go up on social media. But it’s not like an active working phone.”
Reflecting on the last time he owned a phone, the superstar 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.”
