Celebrities, they’re just like us! Or, maybe, when it comes to social media and modern technology, they’re not so much like us, after all.
Whether it’s cutting their digital cord entirely or just engaging in some strange social media posting, many famous faces have made headlines for their unusual use of our vast digital landscape. Some stars, like Ed Sheeran and Sarah Jessica Parker, have opted to unplug at pivotal points in their lives, while others baffle their social media followers on a regular basis with their off-the-wall marketing tactics.
Keep scrolling for a look at some of the world’s most famous stars and their unusual approaches to modern technology:
Ed Sheeran
The “Eyes Closed” singer’s music was streamed an incredible 5 billion times on Spotify in 2024, but none of those plays seemingly came from Sheeran’s own phone. Because, according to the singer, he hasn’t used a cellphone for the past 10 years!
Sheeran revealed during a March 2025 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that his hit single “Old Phone” was inspired by his reticence about digital devices.
He recalled feeling his privacy was invaded during a copyright infringement lawsuit surrounding his song “Thinking Out Loud.” He was cleared of any wrongdoing by a jury in 2023.
Online USA Many celebrities have been candid about their paranormal experiences, but some stars have even claimed to interact with some A-List spirits. Cher famously shared that she believed her late husband Sonny Bono, who died in a skiing accident in 1998, had visited her during his afterlife. The singer explained that the lights in […]
“In the lawsuit, they order you to give up all your old devices,” he told host Jimmy Fallon. “So I handed everything in but I haven’t used a phone. I moved to a tablet in 2015, just on email, and so I switched my phone off in 2015 and left it in a box.”
When Sheeran got his old phone back, he was discouraged to find it was filled with countless messages from people he was no longer in contact with.
“I switched it on, it was like going into a time machine,” he continued. “Like, the first text was my friend that had passed away the year before. The second text was an argument with an ex-girlfriend. The third text was a family member I haven’t spoken to in 10 years. The fourth text was another mate that died.”
Maybe Sheeran has the right idea, after all!
Melissa Joan Hart
Hart’s controversial way of marking the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2015 got her into some hot water. The Sabrina the Teenage Witch actress’ memorial Instagram post started off respectfully enough as she honored the way Americans “displayed our unwavering strength” after the terrorist attacks.
However, her 9/11 memorial message veered wildly off course when she decided to offer “free shipping” for her online store and even came up with a timely, though questionable, discount code.
“Free Shipping in honor of the victims, families & first responders of 9/11,” Hart wrote via Instagram. “Use the promo code ‘911’ during your online checkout at KingofHarts.com.”
Hart’s post was later criticized as insensitive, so she attempted to explain her misguided marketing tactic in a public apology the following day.
“I want to apologize for yesterday’s free shipping post. It was meant to be my small way to give something back,” she wrote via Facebook. “I wanted to cover the shipping charges as a heartfelt gesture, not an exploit of 9/11. I see now how it was interpreted and viewed as being in bad taste. I apologize. It was a mistake. I did not want to draw attention away from what the focus of yesterday should have been. And for that, I am sad.”
Sarah Jessica Parker
While SJP never cut the cord entirely, she revealed to E! News in 2013 that she gave up her smartphone and only communicated through emails.
“I don’t like being behind in both phone calls and emails,” Parker explained. “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.”
Parker then made the very relatable confession that “hearing ‘your voicemail is full’ is horrifying” to her. Who doesn’t dread a voicemail from an unknown caller?
Simon Cowell
The America’s Got Talent judge decided pre-pandemic that he was going to change his digital habits after waking up one morning to “52 unread messages.” Rather than make time to write back to every individual person, Cowell chose to turn his phone off for good.
“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,” he told Entertainment Tonight in 2020. “And I realized it was actually stopping me from working or living properly, 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.”
Three years after initially giving up his phone, Cowell warned others that technology could start to “rule” their lives unless they were conscious of the way they utilized it.
“I find … when you’re in a meeting or you’re having a conversation or you’re at dinner and someone’s reading whatever they’re reading on their phone, it’s like we’re not engaging anymore,” he added.
Dolly Parton
Parton surprised the hosts of The View during a 2023 appearance on the ABC talk show by revealing that friends and loved ones are only able to reach her via fax machine.
“Kenny Rogers used to aggravate me about it,” she admitted. “I said, ‘Look, I’ll send you a message by carrier pigeon if I need to get in touch with you. You always seem to know how to reach me when you want something!’”
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee insisted she “never did get into getting involved” with mobile devices because she felt they were a distraction from her already busy life.
“It’ll take up too much of my time if I tried to get in touch with everybody who is trying to get in touch with me,” she noted. “So I just say, ‘Fax me! Fax me or call me and I’ll call you back.’”
Parton’s goddaughter Miley Cyrus previously confirmed in 2022 that there truly are no exceptions to the legendary singer’s faxing rule.
“Every time I coordinate and kind of communicate with Dolly, it’s still through fax,” Cyrus said during an appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers. “We do use the phone, but she does a fax and then someone scans the fax and then they put it into a text message. And then that gets sent to me, and it’s always signed.”
Kathy Hilton
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ queen of awkward social media interactions worried her followers during the show’s 2022 cast trip to Aspen by leaving some late-night messages on her husband Rick Hilton’s Instagram posts.
“Please call me I need to get out of here now!!!!” she infamously wrote.
Following intense speculation about a potential RHOBH blowout argument, Kathy explained what actually happened during a February 2022 Instagram Live interview with E! News.
“I lost my phone, which I do,” she admitted. “I was kind of left in the house by myself at one point and [I thought] it was about 3 o’clock in the morning. Now, my husband puts his phone in his office, and I know at about midnight he’s on his iPad, and he’ll be scrolling through.”
Kathy remembered she initially messaged Rick because she started hearing strange noises in the villa where the RHOBH cast were staying.
“I knew I’d catch [Rick] by saying, ‘Call me, get me out of here,’ because I did have my iPad, but I had 10 percent [battery] left, no charger,” she acknowledged. “And I started getting scared, hearing all of the noise. I didn’t know what cab company to call. I didn’t know what to do to get out.”
As RHOBH fans know, the exact story about what went down in Aspen was the main point of dispute between Hilton and former costar Lisa Rinna at the season 12 reunion and remains murky to this day.
Christopher Walken
Walken’s Severance character may have to deal with the terrifying repercussions of technological advancement on the Apple TV+ series, but the Academy Award winner himself decided long ago he wouldn’t do anything of the sort.
In January 2025, Walken confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that he simply doesn’t “have technology” at his home.
“I only have a satellite dish on my house. I’ve seen Severance on DVDs that they’re good enough to send me,” Walken said. “I don’t have a cell phone. I’ve never emailed or, what do you call it, Twittered.”
One upside of going (mostly) technology-free is that Walken didn’t have to make much of an adjustment when Severance producer Ben Stiller banned phones on the show’s set.
“Crew have to use phones sometimes to communicate, but, for me, I like no phones anywhere near the eyeshot of the actors,” Stiller explained to Variety in January 2025. “My least favorite thing is to see a dolly grip guy hunched down while an actor is acting their brains out, and he’s scrolling or whatever. It drives me crazy.”
Ric Flair
Pro wrestling legend and former WWE champion “The Nature Boy” was also known as the “60 Minute Man” during his heyday in the ring. That nickname may have applied to his lengthy matches back in the 1980s, but it’s now a more accurate description of how long it must take him to send a single tweet.
Flair has made the unorthodox, and frankly time-consuming, decision to capitalize the first letter in every single word he posts on social media. In some cases — like, when he wrote, “Go To Bed Every Night Of Your Life Knowing… WOOOOO!” in March 2025 — it might not seem like much of a commitment.
While some of today’s biggest A-listers got their start in the ’80s, many of their famous contemporaries in the “Me” decade live quieter, more low-profile lives today. From Tom Cruise, who bravely donned those tighty whities in Risky Business, to the boys and girls of the Brat Pack, click through to see which stars got their big breaks in the 1980s — and see where they ended up!
However, Flair has been known to rant on social media, like the time he complained about pro wrestling podcaster Vince Russo critiquing him for attending the WWE Hall of Fame while he was employed by competitor All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
“Please @THEVinceRusso, I Thought We Agreed That You Wouldn’t Use My Name To Get A Rating! I Work For My GREAT Friend And Employer @TonyKhan, Who Allows Me To Do Things With My Daughter [Charlotte Flair] And Understands The Importance Of Me Being In Attendance At Events Like The Hall Of Fame,” Flair wrote via X in March 2025.
Imagine the thumb strain — it might be more painful than getting into the ring with The Rock!
