In an era where smartphones are practically an extension of the human body, Woody Harrelson stands out as a rare exception. On his new podcast, SiriusXM’s “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” with Ted Danson, Harrelson revealed to guest Kristen Bell that he doesn’t own a cell phone.
“And let me explain something about Woody,” Danson said. “He doesn’t have a phone. He’s one of those bullies in life that make other people carry his phone for him.”
Harrelson clarified that while Danson’s statement isn’t entirely accurate, he does enjoy limiting his accessibility. “Well, I just don’t like to be readily available to any human being at any time,” Harrelson explained. Bell responded, “I hear that. It doesn’t feel good.”
Harrelson elaborated further, saying, “That’s not the reason. I like to be in touch with people in a way, but I don’t like the appendage on my appendage.”
The actor continued, “You know, I made a thing where I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna set a two-hour limit on my phone,’ because this is, I’ve given it up now three, three and a half years, but back then I was like, ‘Okay, I’m going to set this limit. Two hours.’ It’s like 9:30. You know, I’ve already hit my limit at 9:30, so I woke up, and I’ve been on it two hours already because, you know how it can just keep going and going.”
Danson asked if the “limits” Harrelson had set for himself when he did own a cell phone were strictly for phone calls or for using apps and texting loved ones. “Texting and, well, I don’t know about apps, but texting and also, you know, whatever, so I just finally, I wanted to be able to be in a, like if I were out to dinner with you, right? And there’s just a lull in the conversation,” he said. “Oh, I’m on the phone. ‘Oh yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.’ You know, and I look and I’m back down to the device and this.”
Bell, who shares two daughters with her husband Dax Shepard, admitted that her children have had to call her out for being on her cell phone. “But I think once you recognize that, it reshapes, at least it did for me, my whole perspective, and I think my kids had a lot to do with that too, where I realized they were talking to me and my kids are also very, like, emotionally articulate,” Bell said. “So, if I’d be checking something, even if it would be the most valid thing ever, like, ‘Oh, her Jujitsu class is changing times tomorrow. I need to tell the other moms.’ Whatever. A valid thing and one of my kids would look at me and go, ‘I just feel like you’re disconnected. I don’t have your whole attention, Mom,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh f—,'”
Bell shared now that her daughters Lincoln, 10, and Delta, 8, are at the age where they are making her aware of how much time she spends on her cell phone, she is now “over the hump of addiction” to her device. “When they get home from school, I do put it down. I put it upstairs,” she said. “It’s not in my ether when we’re bopping around the house at night and I feel, I really enjoy being less connected to it. It’s such a trick.”
Danson added, “Yeah. I admire what you do with phones by the way, Woody. I need to emulate that more.”
Danson and Harrelson reconnected 30 years after their hit sitcom “Cheers” ended to release their podcast, which premieres every Wednesday on the SiriusXM app and wherever podcasts are available. Each week, the actors will be bringing celebrity guests on to dive deeper into their lives and uncover information that fans may not know.
