Tim Burton Avoids Internet Because It Makes Him “Depressed”

As someone whose entire job revolves around being online, there are few quotes more relatable than Tim Burton sharing how he avoids the internet because it makes him depressed and focuses on his version of touching grass instead.

“Anybody who knows me knows I’m a bit of a technophobe,” the filmmaker recently told BBC News. “If I look at the internet, I found that I got quite depressed. It scared me because I started to go down a dark hole. So I try to avoid it, because it doesn’t make me feel good.”

Burton continued, “I get depressed very quickly, maybe more quickly than other people. But it doesn’t take me much to start to click and start to short circuit.”

Instead, he stays busy by looking at clouds and as one does, collecting giant dinosaur models. According to BBC, Burton has a collection of 10 amusement park dinos in his backyard, including a 20-foot T-Rex and a 50-foot Brontosaurus.

Last year, Burton was given more reason to stay offline after a BuzzFeed article used AI to replicate his signature animation style on classic Disney characters. “What it does is it sucks something from you,” he said at the time. “It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul.”

Burton’s most recent movie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, will hit 4K and Blu-ray (pre-order here) on November 19th. Check out our review, and see where it ranks in his filmography.

And if you’re looking to get further in the spirit of spooky season, refer to our list of the 20 best family-friendly Halloween movies.