What Phone-Free Concerts Reveal about Our Need to Be Fully Present

I go to a concert. Phones. Phones. Phones. 

I watch this beautiful display of fireworks on the 4th of July. Phones. Phones. Phones. 

Everywhere those blasted phones are out. 

Our family went to Disney World for the first time this year. At the end of the night, they had this truly breathtaking show at the Cinderella Castle. It’s something to behold. And I noticed my instinct…reach for my phone…record it. I was trying to take it in and keep the moment, I think. And so was almost everyone around me. 

Phones. Phones. Everywhere the phones. It’s like we can’t experience life unless it’s mediated through the phone. 

But that’s not something you have to worry about if you attend a Phoebe Bridgers concert. 

What Did Phoebe Bridgers Do with Her Phone-Free Album Events?

Bridgers has been playing phone-free shows. At a string of surprise concerts this spring, including a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden, fans had to lock their phones and smartwatches in Yondr pouches before the performance began. If you want to see the show, you actually have to see the show. 

And now she has extended the idea to a series of planetarium listening events for her new album, Lost Weekend. Fans gather beneath massive domes, surrounded by visuals created for the album, and once again their phones stay locked away.

I don’t think it’s entirely about the no-phones. For some of her concerts, she also didn’t allow paper and pencils. She didn’t want unreleased music leaking online. That’s part of what is going on here. But I think there is something deeper going on. And it’s something I’m increasingly noticing amongst Gen Z. Just as the Five Man Electrical Band protested all the signs, so this generation seems to be kicking back on all the phones. 

And I’m not just imagining it. 

Why Are Phone-Free Events Becoming More Popular?

According to Eventbrite, phone-free events grew by 567% globally from 2024 to 2025. And 49 percent of Gen Z and millennials want live experiences to feel “less curated and more real.” They're swapping out smartphones for “dumb” ones. Film cameras are making a comeback. There are even “analog bags” filled with books, journals, crafts, and other things to do instead of reaching for a glowing screen. 

The generation we keep blaming for being on their phones all the time is actually showing they are the most aware of the damage they cause. And they, unlike previous generations, seem to be developing the chutzpah to walk away from it. Maybe they’re onto something. 

How Can Christians Steward Their Attention?

When you hear the word “stewardship,” you’re probably thinking about money. Or maybe time. And those are certainly gifts God has entrusted to us. But there is another category of stewardship—attention. 

Attention is also something that is finite. You cannot give your full attention to everything at once. Every time you look at one thing, you are choosing not to look somewhere else. And that means attention is never entirely neutral. What gets my attention gets a portion of my life. And if God has given me a limited number of days, then where I direct my attention matters. Furthermore, I have limited mental energy and a particular group of people I’m called to love, alongside specific responsibilities I’m tasked with fulfilling. My attention is required for these. 

Attention isn’t just a productivity issue. It’s a part of our stewardship.

I think that is at least partially what Paul means when he says, “Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:15-16). Psalm 90 makes a similar connection: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (v. 12).

That’s something I find really interesting about the Bridgers’ phone-free events. It’s communicating, “This is what you came here to experience, so be here for it.” Of course, it can’t force attention. But it’s taking out the biggest competitor for it. For a couple of hours, there are no notifications to check, no video to record, no post to upload, and no temptation to turn your attention elsewhere. And many of the people seem to be loving it. 

I wonder how impactful that statement could be for us in each of the ordinary moments of our lives. “This is what you came here to experience, so be here for it.” This might be being physically and fully present for your kids at the dinner table. Or when they are showing you the cool trick they learned. It might mean not having one eye on your phone while “listening” to a friend. Each moment calls for our attention. We should experience each moment as God gives us. 

If my attention is one of the gifts God has entrusted to me, then I should probably ask more often: Who or what deserves it right now?

Why Don’t We Have to Record Every Meaningful Moment?

This brings me back to that Cinderella Castle and my impulse to reach for my phone. Why’d I do that? 

I think I wanted to keep the moment. I wanted to relive it. It was the summer after my son’s senior year. Our first trip to Disney. A magical moment. Why wouldn’t I want to record that so I could watch it again? I was trying to save something. 

There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. I’m thankful for pictures and videos of our family. Scripture places a high value on remembering. Israel stacked stones so that future generations could tell what God had done. That was like their video that said, “Hey, remember this…” 

But sometimes we can be so focused on preserving something for the future that we miss the present. We miss the actual moment we are living in. 

That night at Disney was almost comical as I kept my phone in my pocket and noticed all the screens around me. We were beholding something quite beautiful, and nobody was taking it in for what it was. They were just watching the mini-version on their screen. It’s kind of sad to try so hard to experience and capture something that you miss the experience itself. 

And I think that also exposes something in us. We don’t like the fact that good things pass. We know that fireworks end. Vacation is over before you even get started. Kids get older. Concerts only last a couple of hours. And we want to hold onto moments. 

But Scripture calls us to live daily. We receive manna one day at a time. Jesus said “give us this day our daily bread”. We’re supposed to live in the moment. 

What do you think for those who attended that Phoebe Bridgers event, do they own it more than if they’d recorded it on video? I think they might. Because they’d have actually inhabited it. But it couldn’t have been shared as easily… and that leads to our next point. 

What If Some Gifts Are Meant to Be Received, Not Shared?

Good things are meant to be shared. Joy especially has a way of wanting company. You see something beautiful, and you want to call someone over. And I think that’s another reason we pull out our phones and share on social media. We want to experience the moment with other people. 

But I do wonder if we’ve started confusing sharing a gift with receiving one. 

There are some beautiful things that aren’t meant to be shared. Just ask your spouse. Sometimes beautiful things can happen without anybody else needing to know about it. There are some things that can (and should) be just between you and God. Or you and another person. Or you and your family. 

There’s something awesome about being able to say to my kids, “Remember that time…” And I’m sharing a beautiful gift that God gave us. Us. Let that sink in. 

That’s another fun thing with Bridgers’ phone-free shows. It feels like it’s bringing back the possibility of saying, “You just had to be there.” I don’t mean that in a smug way, but in a way of saying that you share something with the other people who were there. 

And that creates conversations. In an age where almost every experience can be instantly uploaded and consumed alone, there is something refreshing about an event like this. It’s giving a shared memory and not shared footage. It’s a gift to be received just as it is. It’s something that belongs, at least for a little while, to the room where it happened. 

How Does Being Fully Present Help Us Love Others?

There is one more thing Bridgers’ phone-free experiences give back to people: each other. 

At a typical concert these days, the person beside you spends half the show filming it. And you might be doing the same thing. But take those phones away, and suddenly everyone in the room experiences the same thing at the same moment. You actually notice the crowd. You hear other people singing. The experience becomes communal because fewer people are disappearing into their own curated lives. 

And that gets at something far bigger than concerts—presence. It’s one of the ways that we love people. 

You know what it feels like when you’re talking to someone and their eyes keep drifting to their phone. Sure, they hear every word (or at least enough to fake interest). But you can feel that you’re competing for attention. Attention communicates value. 

Jesus was awesome at this (duh!). If you read through the Gospels, you can’t help but notice that Jesus was fully present to the people in front of him. That’s because Jesus was love incarnate. 

And I wonder if that’s not what Gen Z is actually craving so much. They’ve sometimes seen the backs of phones more than they’ve seen their parents' eyes. They are hungry for love. And for moments like this, when all the phones are put away, they feel connected at a concert. Attention feels like love. 

Frequently Asked Questions about Phone-Free Events and Being Present

• Why are phone-free events becoming more popular?
  Phone-free events are becoming more popular because many people want live experiences to feel less curated, less performative, and more fully present.
• What can Christians learn from phone-free concerts?
  Christians can learn that attention is a gift to steward wisely and that being present is one way we receive God’s gifts and love the people near us.
• Is it wrong to record concerts, vacations, or family moments?
  No. Recording memories can be a good gift, but it becomes a problem when preserving the moment keeps us from actually receiving and inhabiting it.
• How is attention connected to stewardship?
  Attention is connected to stewardship because it is limited. What receives our attention receives part of our time, energy, affection, and life.
• How can presence become a way to love others?
  Presence communicates value. When we put away distractions and give someone our attention, we show that they matter more than whatever is competing for our focus.

For Further Reading

• Ephesians 5:15 - Be Careful How You Live
• Psalm 90:12 - Teach Us to Number Our Days
• Why Should Christians Pray for “Our Daily Bread”?
• How to Guard Your Mind in the Digital Age
• How to Set God-Honoring Boundaries for Technology in Your Home

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Nikolay Tsuguliev

Mike Leake is husband to Nikki and father to Isaiah and Hannah. He is also the lead pastor at Calvary of Neosho, MO. Mike is the author of Torn to Heal and Jesus Is All You Need. His writing home is https://mikeleake.net and you can connect with him on Twitter @mikeleake. Mike has a new writing project at Proverbs4Today.

This article originally appeared on Christianity.com. For more faith-building resources, visit Christianity.com.