Overview

• Jack White revealed on Instagram that he became the “reluctant owner of a cellular telephone” for the first time in his life after turning 50.
• The device arrived as a 50th birthday present from his wife, Olivia Jean, who also captured his first moments with the phone.
• He long criticized smartphone culture as driven by competition, voyeurism and jealousy and enforced a phone-free policy at his concerts.
• White cited practical challenges such as playing music in his car and navigating QR-code parking as reasons he finally agreed to a smartphone.
• He closed his post with a characteristic quip that his new phone number equals the square root of everyone’s social interactions multiplied by Pi.