What We Gain, and Lose, at a Phone-Free Concert

Outside Brooklyn’s Barclays Center Thursday, concertgoers were urgently using phones—until Phoebe Bridgers enforced a phone-free policy for her three sold-out shows and her 45-date Lost Tour. Fans entering surrendered devices to locked Yondr pouches, including phones, AirPods, smartwatches, and Meta glasses, and spent about three hours “living in the moment.” Mid-set, Bridgers, 32, said the ban is self-preservation, citing the attention she gained after Punisher and boygenius, plus “a shitty couple years” tied to her father’s death. Similar Yondr rules have been used by other artists, but her approach has drawn intensified debate online.