Christopher Walken, 81, says he doesn’t have a phone, has never emailed, and watches ‘Severance’ on DVDs

Christopher Walken, who stars in “Severance,” said he’d watched the show on DVDs provided by the production team.

The “Severance” actor Christopher Walken isn’t much of a tech user.

In a Wall Street Journal interview published Monday, Walken said his relationship with technology was almost nonexistent.

“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 cellphone. I’ve never emailed or, what do you call it, Twittered,” Walken, 81, told the Journal.

Despite that, he doesn’t seem to feel left out in a world where people are addicted to their devices.

“I’ve never had a watch either. But if I need the time, I just ask somebody. Likewise, once in a while when I need to use a phone, I just ask if I can borrow one,” Walken said.

He also recalled how, in 2010, “phones rang in the theater” during a play he was performing in.

“If not that, they’re taking a video of your performance. I thought, that’s it, it’s over. I can’t do it anymore,” Walken said of the incident.

This isn’t the first time the “Dune: Part Two” actor has spoken about not using phones or computers.

During a 2020 appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Walken clarified that he wasn’t “opposed” to modern technology, just that he “got to it too late.”

“I think I’m right at a certain age where it just passed me by, and I never got involved in it because it would be strange to have. Any 10-year-old would be much better at it than I am,” Walken told Colbert.

Walken also isn’t the only celebrity who has spoken about their technological preferences.

In 2023, Christopher Nolan said he didn’t own a smartphone and wrote his scripts on a computer without internet access so he wouldn’t get distracted.

“I think technology and what it can provide is amazing. My personal choice is about how involved I get,” Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter. “If I’m generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn’t be very useful for me.”

During an appearance on the “Therapuss with Jake Shane” podcast last year, Ed Sheeran told Shane that he “hasn’t had a phone since 2015.”

“I just was losing real-life interaction, so I got rid of it; I got an iPad, I moved everything onto email, which I reply to once a week,” Sheeran said.

In recent years, there’s been a lot of discussion around screen time and smartphone use, particularly among kids and teens. Even tech execs such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs raised their kids with limited access to tech devices like smartphones.

But research has suggested that excessive screen time also negatively affects adult brains, leading to symptoms such as impaired concentration and memory.

A 2019 study found that excessive smartphone use might also increase the risk of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional disorders in adolescents and young adults.

A representative for Walken didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent by B-17 outside regular hours.