Idris Elba shared his daily routine and spoke about how he stays productive as an actor and DJ in an interview with Fast Company.
Elba said that as an only child, his constant challenge was having to entertain himself. Because of this, he’s learned to keep busy on his own.
“Imagine you’re a farmer with a piece of land, and you’re growing crops. Some vegetables need a full cycle to grow, others grow quicker. You realize you have to juggle each one’s seasonal pattern. That’s how I think of my projects,” Elba said. “I like having some variety, so I could be in a few episodes of something funny [like The Office] and then do something more serious [such as Luther or 2021’s The Suicide Squad]. Or I could act [Hobbs & Shaw], and direct [Yardie], and DJ.”
However, there’s just one major thing bothering him these days— social media.
The star of Luther and The Wire said he’s hoping to unplug from the devices he relies on to keep his schedule in check because they are wearing him out.
“I’ve been trying to wean myself off,” Elba said. “I used to post a lot more, but it’s been putting me off lately.”
“And Twitter’s just not how I want to receive my news,” he continues. “I read the news aggregated on my iPad, but I can’t check it constantly — I’m not proud of it, but it’s true — because it makes me feel depressed.”
ABC Radio notes that Elba wakes up between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and the first thing he does every day is pick up his phone. Nowadays, he tries to squeeze in 15 minutes of time without the internet.
“I’ll just sit in the dark, stare, and try not to do anything — just clear my mind and decompress,” he said.
Elba has had a frustrating history with social media, Blavity reports. In May 2018, he took to Instagram to defend his now-wife Sabrina Dhowre’s fashion choices at the royal wedding for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Still, social media isn’t always a drag for Elba. In one case, he jumped into Chrissy Teigen’s Twitter jokes about her husband John Legend being named 2019's “sexiest man alive” by People Magazine.
When Teigen asked Elba to drop his pics from 1995, he complied and jaws proceeded to drop.
Moreover, Elba was also made into a mostly harmless meme after he appeared to be choking on an episode of “Hot Ones.”