Alden Ehrenreich calls social media and TikTok a “Climate Disaster of Culture”
Alden Ehrenreich isn’t mincing words about TikTok — or what social media’s doing to culture.
On a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Alden Ehrenreich said he’s never been on TikTok, keeps just one photo on his Instagram, and even sets his phone wallpaper to a blank screen — a deliberate choice to keep the noise out.
He didn’t just shrug off social media; he went after it. Citing the documentary The Social Dilemma, Ehrenreich argued that endless feeds aren’t just a distraction — they’re warping how people live and how artists make things.
“It’s the climate disaster of culture basically,” he told the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
He described scrolling as a daily reminder of what you’re not doing or not invited to, and said younger artists are increasingly creating with the question “will this sell?” hanging over the work. He added a sliver of optimism, noting a shift he senses among teens and twenty-somethings.
“I do think hopefully young people are starting to like be less enchanted with the culture around it.”
Ehrenreich said his near-empty Instagram leaves him feeling he has to either commit to posting or get off entirely. To show how much the ground has shifted, he recalled a friend’s joke about even Bob Dylan needing to announce a new song on Instagram now, as if social media is the only way to reach anyone. He hopes tighter rules — including age restrictions — could help.
As a reminder to himself, he keeps the phone’s home screen stark: no photo, just black.
Into the woods
That old-school streak goes back years. The day before his 25th birthday, Ehrenreich disappeared into the woods to prepare for his big scene opposite Ralph Fiennes in the Coen brothers ’ comedy Hail, Caesar! He said it was the funniest writing he’d ever read — which was exactly the problem. He wanted the moment to land so sincerely that there was no room left for him to crack up.
A Friday rehearsal didn’t go well — he couldn’t get through it without laughing. Director Joel Coen told him to relax because editing could fix it, but Ehrenreich dug in and kept working the scene.
Shoot days stretched to a day and a half. Ehrenreich managed to hold a straight face all the way through his final close-up — until Fiennes broke first.