Shailene Woodley Doesn't Own a Cell Phone, Taught Herself How to Build Fire and Create Weapons

Divergent star also talks about honing her "survival skills" and shares her fears for the planet

By Zach Johnson Mar 10, 2014 11:39 AMTags
Shailene WoodleyTheo Wargo/Getty Images for IFP

Good luck getting in touch with Shailene Woodley.

The Divergent actress has willingly and decidedly become a Luddite, she reveals in an interview with The Daily Beast. "I'm not a big technology person. I don't even have a smart phone. I don't even have a cell phone!" the 23-year-old movie star says, adding, "If I were to have one, it would be a flip phone."

Woodley decided to get rid of her mobile device after she realized that there's "a bigger lack of camaraderie and community than there's ever been." As a result, the former Secret Life of the American Teenager star has been able to develop her interpersonal communication skills. "Since I got rid of my phone, [I'm] having to pull over and be like, 'Hey, buddy—do you know how to get here?' I'm talking to people more than I've ever talked to in my life because I no longer have that crutch," she explains. "The more you get away from all the technological buzz, the more freedom you have."

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Woodley is interested in honing her "survival skills," which isn't unlike her character in Divergent. In fact, it's part of the reason she was cast as Beatrice Prior, the protagonist in the popular novel series.

"The producers asked me what I liked to do in my spare time and I told them I used to study how to survive in the wild—how to make shelter, build fire, and create weapons out of the ecosystem—but I live in a city, so it also got me thinking about urban survival skills," she says of becoming self-sufficient.

Woodley, who regularly treks to the mountains to collect natural spring water and forage for berries, is deeply concerned about how people are treating the environment. "My biggest fear is that people aren't going to realize in time that we are nature, and that we need to think about that fact and respect that fact," the actress says. "People talk about global warming, the oceans, and the rainforest, and we need to be talking about it, but nothing's going to change unless we change ourselves."

She adds, "Nothing's going to change in nature until we start with our own bodies, mental health, and happiness. The human race isn't going to be so fine if we don't take some necessary steps pronto."