2000s Rock Icon, 50, Celebrates Birthday With First-Ever Cell Phone
2000s Rock Icon, 50, Celebrates Birthday With First-Ever Cell Phone originally appeared on Parade.
By now, most of us have given up on the fight against modern technology. Phones at the table? No problem, just don’t drop it in the mashed potatoes.
Jack White was the exception to the rule, but not anymore. He’s ringing in his 50th birthday with a brand new sound… his very first ringtone.
The famously anti-technology 2000s rockstar took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce he was ringing in his 50th birthday with his first cell phone.
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R15e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R25e4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe“Well y'all it's either all over for me now or just the beginning,” White wrote in his post. “I am now the reluctant owner of a cellular telephone for the first time in my life!”
White rose to fame in the 2000s as one-half of the Detroit rock duo The White Stripes, known for blending genres like punk rock, folk, country and blues. Now a successful solo performer, White’s aversion to modern technology and devotion to all things vinyl and analog is just about as well documented as his musical prowess.
White opened the 2008 documentary It Might Get Loud by building a guitar out of wire, a few nails, a coke bottle and a miniature amp. He strummed a few rocking notes then looked to the camera and said, “Who says you have to buy a guitar?”
In the same documentary, White said, “Technology is a big destroyer of emotion and truth… that's the disease you have to fight in any creative field, ease of use.”
AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R1be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2be4kr8lb2m7nfddbH1» iframeIn the years that followed, White put his policies where his mouth is, banning cellphones from his live shows.
In a 2018 interview with UK Channel 4 News he talked about why he chose to be phone free, describing cell phones as an “addiction” and saying, “If you can’t just put that [mobile phone] down for an hour and experience life in a real way, that’s sad.”
Convenience ultimately got the better of him, but in his Instagram post White wrote that forever without a phone was never the plan. “I thought if I could make it to 50 years old at least without ever having one that I could be proud of myself, and I am. Can't wait to talk to you all soon.”
2000s Rock Icon, 50, Celebrates Birthday With First-Ever Cell Phone first appeared on Parade on Jul 10, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 10, 2025, where it first appeared.
