Björk: Get off social media and go walk in a forest

(Bjork/Facebook)

Björk is a fountain of knowledge. But not a fountain as such, more of a babbling brook flowing gently through woodland offering sage advice.

She embraces technology, having recently shot a 360-degree music video inside her mouth, but definitely sees its downsides, which are rooted in her yearning for the simple life she enjoyed growing up in Iceland.

On not being too negative about it, she told Pitchfork in a new interview:

"I try to look at it as just as a tool. We've always had tools. We discovered how to work with fire, we made the first knife. The nuclear bomb comes and everybody's like, “Oh, well, we could actually kill everybody.” We had to go through the morality of it. And so we have to react to that [with technology]. I definitely do get anxious about it, but because I'm anxious about it, I try to come up with solutions. It's here: I'm not going to just put bananas in my ears and wait for it to go away. I'm probably most anxious about it when it comes to the planet and the environment. I feel guilty that I'm not just living in Iceland full-time, living on totally green energy and growing all my own vegetables. That's what we all should be doing. But I think the way to overcome environmental problems is with technology. What else are we going to use—sticks?"

(Getty)

Björk went on to discuss the fast food-like effects of Facebook and how to combat it:

"We just have to define technology. There's no one answer. Sometimes you have to burn yourself. Maybe there are a lot of kids now who don't know how to walk in a forest and do basic outdoorsy things. You can be on Facebook for a long time, and then you get a feeling in your body like you've had three hamburgers. You know it's trash. I always advise my friends: just go for a walk for an hour and come back and see how you feel then. I think we're meant to be outdoors. I was brought up in Iceland, and even if it was snowing or raining, I would be outdoors all day. Entertain yourself. Do shit. I think we need to put humanity into technology—the soul. It's about using technology to get closer to people, to be more creative."

The musicians thoughts on social media echo those she has on religion, previously saying: "In Iceland we don’t go to church, we go for a walk and sing at the top of our lungs."