Aziz Ansari covers the upcoming Fall edition of GQ Style. They made him look all goofy in a velvet embellished jacket and posed him poking his head and torso out of a door. He’s staring at you with those big eyes, he looks small in perspective to the door and he looks like he’s up to no good. The editorial isn’t bad though, he looks dashing in quite a few of those photos. Aziz touches on a lot of topics in the interview, primarily his thoughts on success and how he wants to live his life. He’s unplugged from the internet and has been living in Europe for a few months, having met up with the GQ journalist in Paris. I read this interview over a bowl of ice cream and it was like watching Master of None – I couldn’t put it down. I love the way Aziz thinks and the way he explains things, it’s an entirely new perspective and he pulls you in there with him. The guy is fascinating and funny and I came away feeling like I just had dinner with him.
On why he’s taking a break from working now
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. We both have more money than we ever imagined. And I was like, Can you imagine if someone called us a few years ago and said, “All right, you’re going to have this much money when you’re this age. What are you gonna do with it?” You would say all sorts of fantastical things, right? No one would say, ‘Oh, I would figure out how to make more money and keep working all the time.’I heard you deleted the Internet from your phone. And that you deleted Twitter and Instagram and e-mail. No way that’s true, right?
It is! Whenever you check for a new post on Instagram or whenever you go on The New York Times to see if there’s a new thing, it’s not even about the content. It’s just about seeing a new thing. You get addicted to that feeling. You’re not going to be able to control yourself. So the only way to fight that is to take yourself out of the equation and remove all these things. What happens is, eventually you forget about it. You don’t care anymore. When I first took the browser off my phone, I’m like, [gasp] How am I gonna look stuff up? But most of the shit you look up, it’s not stuff you need to know. All those websites you read while you’re in a cab, you don’t need to look at any of that stuff. It’s better to just sit and be in your own head for a minute. I wanted to stop that thing where I get home and look at websites for an hour and a half, checking to see if there’s a new thing. And read a book instead. I’ve been doing it for a couple months, and it’s worked. I’m reading, like, three books right now. I’m putting something in my mind. It feels so much better than just reading the Internet and not remembering anything.On not keeping up with news and politics
If you take yourself out of it, you’re not infected with this toxicity all the time… I’m not choosing ignorance. I’m choosing to not watch wrestling… I don’t think me reading the news is helping anything. I think it’s hurting me. It’s putting me in a bad state of mind.What would you change about this reality?
I would probably adjust my personal life to be in a loving relationship, and I’d probably adjust it so I got to spend more time with my parents… I’ve had that high, twice now, of making something I really care about, that I really believe in, that I’m really inspired by, and having people respond to it. I’d rather figure out other things in my life that I don’t feel as good about. I don’t feel as good about my personal life as I do my professional life.Describe [your] dream girl.
Someone I would be thrilled to do nothing with who would be as equally thrilled to do nothing with me.
You know that meme “you get a million dollars if you live in this cabin for a year with no internet and unlimited books” or whatever? (I can’t google it properly because there are so many cleverer responses to that meme which come up first.) Well Aziz already got his millions and he’s choosing to relax in the cabin, only the cabin is various international cities. You get my poorly thought out analogy. Just reading the title to this story made me think that I would never be able to unplug like he has, but of course he explained it so well that I get it. A lot of the time you’re just reading garbage online that you promptly forget. (Thanks for visiting our site please come back!)
As for his position on why he’s not in a relationship despite being lonely – I don’t think he’s open to having one right now. That’s what he’s trying to do – find himself first so that he can be ready when the time comes. When he’s ready, it probably won’t be long until he meets someone. He’s famous and knows a lot of people. Plus, he wrote the damn book on it. (Read Modern Romance you won’t be disappointed.) It’s all about making it work with the person you pick, not scrolling and shrugging because there are so many choices and you assume another will come along.
photos credit: Arnaud Pyvka exclusively for GQ Style. Getty images
No Celebitchy for three months? Don’t think so. I’d be having withdrawal symptoms. No Donald Trump for three months? No problem.
Aw thanks!
I’ve been reading this site for years…. Only celebrity shiznik I permit so no lol. Besides, had to go with electricity for two whole weeks following a hurricane and the family went bonkers extreme. Chasing flashlight beams only go so far.
I think Aziz like most funny comics is a very complicated guy who probably will struggle to find a mate who matches all the contradicting facets about him. I hope he is looking outside of Hollywood, comedians just seem to do better with women who are willing to nurture them almost like a very handson mother. A fellow star may not be able to fully devote like that.
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My friend is married to a standup comic and finds that his colleagues are similarly prone to introspection, darkness and some vices, and that those who are in stable relationships have done so with women who are almost motherly towards them.
Aziz seems truly lovely. I agree about comedians in general, and have heard as much from them during interviews. Aziz seems a bit more grounded than some, though.
I quit Facebook last year and don’t miss it at all. But I couldn’t quit the Internet. How else would I know when there’s a new Game of Thrones or Star Wars trailer?
Technically I *could* but I’d lose my job. Could I switch off from non work related internet? Again technically I could but no I wouldn’t even try. I don’t think it’s particularly admirable or desirable either. It’s like those people who brag about never watching TV, TV isn’t a problem, anymore than the Internet or books or newspapers or any other medium is. How you use it is the issue.
I guess the problem is that by default we seem to be wired to use it in a way that ends up being negative. We are not very good of delayed gratification in general. So sometimes we need to force ourselves to make better choices by changing our environment.
Just like preparing my vegetables in portions and put them in the freezer so making soup isn’t a chore. The boring part is out of the way and I end up eating more soup.
I mean CB is the first site I check in the morning followed by the morning news via twitter.
I could unplug if I didn’t have to work. I’ve gone without social media for months during finals and when my therapist suggested a break from it. I’ve taken 3 months and 6 month breaks. The first days are the hardest but after a while you forget about it.
whenever Bf and I go for hiking we do unplug. He takes his phone to take pics and that’s all. 2 days of bliss. Same when sightseeing . I deleted my facebook page and it’s so good. No phone while i commute just reading ( I read at least 4 per month). When i drive only lifting music no radio (unless it’s NPR). We finally got to start to clean the barn and grew veggies because we decided to spend more time together as opposed to “I’m tired I’m just gonna watch tv and sleep”. Tv used to be on first thing in the morning right after 45 was elected but it was “what now” moment. so less IG less twitter but I think I still lurk too much because I don’t want be in the last wagon of information. I think it’s the fear of lacking that makes us think we could never unplug but I bet you it’s easier than we think.
To quote Phoebe Buffay, I wish I could, but I don’t want to.
Hahaha that’s my favorite quote
While I can’t totally disconnect, I telecommute and work partially pays for my phone/internet, I took Facebook off my phone a month ago and am amazed how much I don’t miss it (and am in a much better mood without it). Check it at most a few times a week now on my laptop and it’s mostly shares from other pages or friends who post minutiae (going to the Y, making pasta for dinner). Holidays and vacation I turn off work email feeding to my phone and it really is liberating.
Same here- I telecommute and that makes it hard to completely unplug from the internet, but life without Facebook on my phone is a delight!
I go on silent meditation retreats and they’re wonderful. I could definitely do a 3 month with no internet access. It’s harder to be out in the world and not have the internet or do technology fasts, though. We have no technology days at my home and when they’re mixed in with standard internet gorging days, they feel like long slow dragging torture.
oh Aziz, I love master of none so much
Me too! I just finished the second season and it was so good. I liked the first season, but I thought the second had a lot more depth to it. He really has a poignant but funny take on the world, and it’s great that he feeds it by trying out new things, rather than just getting caught up in the hollywood/TV bubble.
I loved him in parks and rec as well, so at this point, he can do no wrong!
I totally understand his reasons for purposefully staying away from the news. Like I’m Canadian and I’ve had to stop following many news outlets that I read before, just because it’s taken such a toll on my mental health. It’s become an endless barrage of either deeply depressing or outright horrible stories with no silver lining. Hopefully that changes. It’s no fun choosing between your mental health and willing ignorance.
He is right, but I remember life before the Internet. I put in my time and I don’t want to go back.
No, because I’m not rich and powerful enough to either take a few months off from work in Europe or force colleagues to associate with me on my own terms.
Breaks from social media or obsessive newshounding can be a good idea, but cutting yourself off from email, mapping functions, and the like requires a lot of privilege.
I think I could fairly easily get off my personal social media for three months. I’m intermittent at it anyway.
I’d find it difficult to stop newshounding but I think I could make myself if I decided to. Likewise not participating in commenting communities like this.
But the rest of it? Even if we said I was allowed to interwebz for my work – which I do from home, so all quoting, invoicing, receiving work, sending it back, etc is done online – the idea that I couldn’t buy anything online (I hate shops) or use a map, or check a fact? Nope. Wouldn’t last a week.
We all managed just fine before the Internet. i think we’ve all gotten so used to instant access to things, that people don’t think they can go back to a life without that instant information,tv,film,music,shopping etc, & don’t see a reason to.
Just discovered Master of None, and omg guys!! The best show I’ve watched… maybe ever. Love Aziz. I want to travel and eat with him. Be his bff. (Best food friend)
Interesting he’s struggling with all these issues the same way Dev does. He reminds me of my brother. He may overthink things. He’s so in his own head about love.
I love this show. The first season I watched one episode at a time but the second I got a bit obsessed and binged. Sad that he and fellow creator Alan yang said they don’t Feel inspired for season 3 yet or maybe ever
I love Aziz as a comedian, and actor and a writer. He makes me laugh so hard, and puts things in such a clear and different perspective that really makes me think. I wish I knew him in real life, and i don’t feel that way about many celebrities. He comes across as a truly interesting and unpretentious guy. I hope he continues to do well.
I love that he’s disconnected from his phone and I wish more would do the same, even on a lesser level. I’m not on social media because I don’t like the way it makes me feel… there is so much phoniness involved in SM. People put their best faces forward and put on an act and what’s the point? To make other people think that their lives are perfect and wonderful when they aren’t. It just weirds me out, even though my friends are always hounding me to get on Facebook, IG, and Snapchat.
In the 2nd season of Master of None, there was a scene where Aziz is walking around with someone and they stop and see everyone just completely enamored with their phones… it was very clear that he was making social commentary, but in true Aziz fashion, he ended the scene with a guy kissing his phone and his character, Dev, saying “what the fuck? why the fuck did that guy just kiss his phone?” and it was hilarious.
I hate the disconnection between people that smartphones and the Internet have created. I hate that social graces are really dying, I hate that so many people can’t hold eye contact during a conversation anymore. My dad’s job recently hired some younger kids and he tells me all the time that there are mornings that he’ll say “hello” to them and they blank out like they don’t know how to respond. It isn’t just hyperbole, the smartphone craze has really affected our society and the cons outweigh the pros.
People also want instant gratification… where I live, at traffic lights, the second the light turns green cars go wild blowing their horns. If they’re in a line of traffic and a car up ahead brakes to make a turn, a car 10 cars back is already switching lanes and speeding through because they can’t stand to wait for even a second. I blame the instant gratification… their worlds revolve around their smart phones/the internet and they never have to wait for anything and they look for that instant gratification in everything.
Well put, I agree with everything you’re saying! I live in NYC and it is so hard to even walk around without someone crashing into you because they’re staring at their phone, and everyone is just checked out and disconnected from real life. Today, I was waiting to cross the street and a girl in front of me was in the street, not on the sidewalk, standing 6 feet away from a truck that was backing up — I said, “Watch out!”, and she happened to notice and move, but it wasn’t because she heard me, she had headphones in, and she didn’t even know that I had tried to get her attention. It was really dispiriting. Not because I wanted credit but because it just pointed out to me again how things are changing in this disturbing way.
I enjoy him a lot. He’s so refreshing and I love his take on things. The interview was a treat and loved the photos too.
Well – Atlantic Canada is without cell service and some landlines are being affected currently as well. So I guess it’s kind of the opposite thing, but still.
I did it a few months ago and it felt sooooooooo good!
Like someone already mentioned upthread, the internet is a tool. It’s benign. It’s how you use it. I couldn’t cut myself off from the interwebs because so much of my work is done that way. There are some people who will not pick up a phone but will answer an email. And the convenience of being able to order something online is an absolute joy. As another commenter said, it requires a lot of privilege to be able to what Ansari has done. Kudos to him for earning that privilege, but my life doesn’t bend in that direction.
This might be a dumb question to ask, but how do you actually take the browser off your phone? I thought it was stuck there permanently by the software.
I do think he’s in a privileged position to cut himself off from the internet, but it doesn’t sound like something he’s asking other people to do. It simply sounds like he had the opportunity to do so, and telling people this is how he felt about the experience.
I also feel that it can make people look into their lives and maybe inspire them to make some changes. We always assume we need things that we simply got used to.
I used to have my twitter feed always open and regularly checked to see what was going on (that’s how I see news during the day) but it was depressing and distracting so I decided to just check it at the end of the day and some days I don’t even login and it definitely helped me. I don’t feel that I’m less informed (who can keep up with it anyway), I just read summaries when everything was already analyzed and the important stuff was distilled from constant noise.
It’s easier for him to “unplug” as he didn’t grow up with the internet anyways. I do think the internet just makes people anxious and paranoid. It’s better to unplug. Let’s hope those who grew up with the internet can do it.
I can’t unplug because of my business, but I do try to stay off the internet in the evenings. I was complaining that the only time I have to read books is in bed before sleep when I’m exhausted so I maybe get through two or three pages a night. Without the internet in the evenings I get more things done and out of the way AND I have time to go to bed early and enjoy a book.
I get what he’s saying about looking for something new. One of the reasons it’s easy to unplug in the evenings is because there’s usually nothing new by that time. I was feeling frustrated that I wasn’t being entertained. Once I realized it, I didn’t like that about me.
Honestly, I think social media is toxic.But I enjoy reading about different topics online for learnign and gaining knowledge. I love the smithsonian blog, Atlas Obscura. It’s difficult bc while the internet brings all sort of complications and problems into our modern world…it is like a magic book where anything you want to know you can get to. That’s really cool, to me.
I’m the same age as him and I feel like speaks to a sentiment shared by so Many of my peers. He’s so well spoken and thoughtful. This article was such a Great read.
Yes, easily. Grew up before Internet, I know how to entertain myself without it.
Always find it funny how people tell you how bad the internet is and how “unpluging” from it made them happy. My question is always if the internet makes you so unhappy, why come back to it? Why continue using the “social side” of it, which isn’t necessary and is usually the feature of the internet that they have the biggest problem with. If you allow the social interactions on cyberspace to affect you so deeply, then chances are you desperately need to evaluate how you deal with conflict and navigate social interactions irl.
I have unplugged from all social media after the election and I rarely read the papers lest I get updated on our Pres’s latest shenanigans. I only come here and read tv show recaps online and nothing else. I dont get people oversharing every aspect of their day online.