Christopher Nolan reveals surprising fear behind his no-smartphone rule

Sir Christopher Nolan, who does not own a smartphone, opened up about a fear linked with his decision not to own one.

The Oscar-winning director, whose new film The Odyssey releases today, revealed in a recent chat with The Telegraph that he might ditch his stance on smartphones.

Christopher admitted, “I know I’d become horribly addicted to them if I had one, I’d spend all my time looking things up."

He explained, “And I find I’m only able to advance my thinking on projects in those pockets of time where everybody usually jumps on their phone – waiting for a train, or in an airport, or sitting in a restaurant waiting for somebody to turn up for dinner. Those are the moments I work out whatever it is I need to do next.”

But one fear is filling him up, as Christopher confessed, “I worry the world is eventually going to wear me down.”

“The return of the QR code since Covid has been particularly tricky for me," the filmmaker added.

The Interstellar director made similar remarks during a recent appearance on the US interview series 60 Minutes.

Christopher said, “The QR code had sort of gone away, but Covid brought it back. Now it’s kind of everywhere, and if you don’t have a smartphone, you can’t do much with a QR code."

As he carries “a flip phone”, Christopher remarked, “I’m just living the same way that we all used to. To me, it’s just life as normal."

“Most people do [envy me] which says something about where this has all gone, which is not good. I feel very fortunate to not be wearing the digital shackles.”