Watch Louis C.K. explain why he hates smartphones

"You never feel completely sad or completely happy, you just feel kinda satisfied with your product, and then you die."

Louis C.K.
(Image credit: (YouTube))
YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Smartphones are evil and they kill people. If you didn't know that already — didn't somehow feel it deep in your bones — watch comedian Louis C.K. explain to his old boss, Conan O'Brien, why he hates smartphones, and will never, ever buy one for his daughters.

They look at a kid and they go, "You're fat," and then they see the kid's face scrunch up and they go, "Oh, that doesn't feel good to make a person do that." But they got to start with doing the mean thing. But when they write, "You're fat," then they just go, "Mmm, that was fun, I like that..."Some parents really struggle with, like, "All the other kids have the terrible things, so my kid has to. Just because all the other stupid kids have phones, doesn't mean, "Oh, well, my kid has to be stupid, otherwise she'll feel weird."

Neetzan Zimmerman at Gawker notes that C.K. nails it when he goes on to talk about how smartphones are bad for grown-ups, too. People would rather text while driving — and "murder people" — than simply relax, drive, and be alone, says C.K. "While C.K. agrees that smartphones can help create a sense of community," Zimmerman says, "he believes that therein lies the problem:"

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That's what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there. That's being a person. [Gawker]

Plus, there's an added bonus, says David Haglund at Slate. "His case against smartphones also includes dueling Springsteen impressions by him and Conan. The whole thing is worth watching."

Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.