The Last Year Nobody Had Their Phone Out at a Concert

Shane Hewitt and The Nightshift · Apr 10, 2026 · 9m

2011 was the last normal year. That's not nostalgia. That's what historians who study decades for a living actually call it. Go find concert footage from that year. Everyone is holding up a drink or a lighter. Nobody has a phone out. It looks like a different planet.

By 2012 the majority of the world's population was addicted to smartphones and scrolling. Spotify launched in 2011 and finished off physical media for good. Charlie Sheen had a public meltdown, got fired, said I am on a drug called Charlie Sheen and took the whole thing on tour. Ed Conroy went. He still isn't sure it was real…