Patrick Stewart Doesn't Get Twitter, Is Scared Of Getting Hooked On Gaming (VIDEO)

Patrick Stewart, also known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, has a complex relationship with tech.

In an interview with Digital Nation (see video below), Stewart professed his love for his 'beautiful' iPhone, but admits he just doesn't get Twitter, and his a bit scared of gaming.

Stewart emphatically affirmed he doesn't tweet, and never has. He said he just doesn't see the point:

To reduce life to--how many? 140? Just seems to me to be a little bit simplistic. Maybe I like complexity and abstraction too much.

His iPhone is another story. He called it 'my beautiful iPhone' which 'I never have out of my hand and that I do everything with and has become an extension of who I am.'

Stewart said he doesn't travel without his laptop and considers e-mail 'absolutely essential:'

I love emailing because I don't like talking on the telephone and I don't like writing letters.

Stewart confessed with great gusto that he loves the Internet.

The fact I can find out what the weather is like in LA, in 15 seconds, before I fly out of Heathrow is fantastic. [...] Now I can pull up the complete works of Shakespeare. I can't remember a line, I just go online and there it is in front of me. I think it's absolutely sensational.

However steeped in technology the 69-year-old actor is, he does admit one sector of technology he has never taken to is gaming--in part because he fears how hooked he could become.

The only aspect of all of this that I have never taken to, in part because I have an addictive temperament, is gaming. I have a stack of games that I have never taken the covers off because I feel that if I do, I'm finished.

WATCH:

Comments

[rgilley]

06:39 PM on 02/08/2010

Danm Im glad he doesn't get it either.

[enoughofrr]

06:04 PM on 02/07/2010

You and me both, Jean Luc.

[crayola 08b]

10:49 AM on 02/07/2010

i got a PS2 years ago and sold it a few months after i bought it for exactly that reason. i could see myself wasting hours and hours a day playing video games. though now i'm really considering getting a Wii mainly for the fact that it's much more interactive.

[pointyheadprodigy]

08:15 PM on 02/05/2010

So, he is not a twit. Good for him.

[TylerSutherland]

02:40 PM on 02/05/2010

I love Patrick Stewart. He reminds me as well of Peter Postlethwaite; both fine actors.

[TylerSutherland]

02:39 PM on 02/05/2010

I

[Tristan9]

02:24 PM on 02/05/2010

How wonderful to see you again Patrick! Many congratulations on your knightship,
it is a great and well-deserved honor for you my friend.

many blessings, your student in Shakespeare - Robert T.

[ramblingjohnny]

02:12 PM on 02/05/2010

Nobody get twitter until they learn about a big news on twitter a few hours or even a few days before it hit the mainstream media! If you follow enough peoples you be amaze how many time you end up hearing about things in advance. You can also monitor subjects that interest you by keywords.

[SwingingFromCenter]

12:52 PM on 02/06/2010

Do I really need to know about something "in advance"? Do I care what Heidi Montag is wearing at Toys R Us? No.

I'm techie to the marrow, and not only do I not have a Twitter account, I've never even read a Tweet. All Twitter accomplishes is further cements a societal belief that nobody should have an attention span larger than that of a gnat. Are we all so busy that we can't be bothered to read more than 140 characters?

[ramblingjohnny]

11:56 PM on 02/06/2010

Does not matter what subject you care about just try searching it on twitter and you will find peoples tweeting about it because peoples are tweeting on just about anything!

[Dnlmsstch]

01:50 PM on 02/05/2010

Just give in to temptation - you will only regret it if you live long enough to reach bottom

[Levonsky]

01:43 PM on 02/05/2010

gaming- the nerds equivalent of soap operas.

[Krek]

04:05 PM on 02/05/2010

Clever soundbite, but inaccurate. Gaming is a mentally demanding activity that provides the brain with more exercise than many others pastimes, including watching soap operas.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/06/24/2607577.htm

[TVolm]

10:07 PM on 02/06/2010

Agree and disagree. Yes, games are mentally challenging if they are well designed. But Stewart is correct about the addiction aspect, and that stems largely because it is mentally challenging. A well designed game becomes so interesting that regular life becomes boring. Online games are worse, because they can provide the personal connections to others that playing against your computer or Wii or whatever. And technology will make it worse, as video advances make the games more visually stimulating, and coding advances make the game AIs even better than today. However, games vs soap operas? Yeah, go for the game. In fact, based on the garbage I see today on TV, I'd say game over most of the garbage on prime time today.

[Unimatrix42]

12:52 PM on 02/05/2010

He so needs an iPad!

[wm1066]

12:52 PM on 02/05/2010

Anyone remember the StarTrek, Next Generation episode with a young Ashley Judd where the crew get addicted to a computer game? Wesley Crusher and Ashley save the day.

[mammon55]

12:56 PM on 02/05/2010

is it from Rigal 7?
lol

[PresidentRobertBooth]

03:00 PM on 02/05/2010

***Anyone remember the StarTrek, Next Generation episode with a young Ashley Judd where the crew get addicted to a computer game? Wesley Crusher and Ashley save the day***


Don't forget Data.

He also saves Wesley's arse when he flashlights the crew out of their addiction.

[rextrek]

12:22 PM on 02/05/2010

ahh and Im playing STARTREK ONLINE.....just came out 2/2 awsome game!!!

[StarDagger]

05:00 PM on 02/05/2010

Yeah imagine hearing his voice on vent!!!

[notb observer]

11:39 AM on 02/05/2010

I don't know Patrick Stewart, but from what I've seen of him, I like him a lot. He was absolutely hilarious in Ricky Gervais' "Extras" and his lines in the "Family Guy" Star Trek episode were great.
I don't blame him for not getting into gaming. There are far too many real things in the world to enjoy and appreciate, not to mention worry about.

[Bashir Hood]

10:57 AM on 02/05/2010

embrace it, no need to fear gaming.

[Krek]

11:18 AM on 02/05/2010

I've had friends say that to me - they wouldn't start gaming because they'd be afraid they'd never stop. Ruin their marraige - all sorts of fears. I keep telling them the same thing - you don't know what you're missing.

[Sonkwa Sonkwa]

01:01 PM on 02/05/2010

they do know, and they know they would love it...alot...too much..