--- title: Solar Eclipse: Neil deGrasse Tyson Says to Put Down Phone description: Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is urging skygazers to put down their phones during Monday’s total solar eclipse. canonical: https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-21T16:23:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:30:12.796Z article:section: Science og:title: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says You Should Put Down Your Phone During the Solar Eclipse og:description: "Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically" og:url: https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt007722f16fe595e5/6988da7b656a3fdff3bd15d9/neil-degrasse-tyson.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Neil-deGrasse-Tyson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says You Should Put Down Your Phone During the Solar Eclipse twitter:description: "Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt007722f16fe595e5/6988da7b656a3fdff3bd15d9/neil-degrasse-tyson.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says You Should Put Down Your Phone During the Solar Eclipse > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=285f0a88-8dd6-4741-8e9c-2779a13f5137&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8eBLoRLZ.m3u8) (4:01)  _Published 2017-08-21. Millions of Americans turned their eyes skyward as a rare total solar eclipse sailed across the country from coast to coast for the first time, turning day into night in more than a dozen states. The eclipse ended just after 2:44 p.m. E.T._ by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 21, 2017 4:23 PM UTC Millions of Americans turned their eyes skyward as a rare total solar eclipse sailed across the country from coast to coast for the first time, turning day into night in more than a dozen states. The eclipse ended just after 2:44 p.m. E.T. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Aug 21, 2017 4:23 PM UTC Famed astrophysicist [Neil deGrasse Tyson](http://time.com/4761305/neil-degrasse-tyson-book-2017/) is urging skygazers to put down their phones during Monday’s [total solar eclipse](http://time.com/4907357/total-solar-eclipse-2017-america/?xid=homepage). During an appearance last week at the American Museum of Natural History, Tyson said eclipse watchers should take in the rare and short-lived phenomenon without the distraction of their devices. “Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically,” Tyson said, according to the [Associated Press](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlllrY%5F2IVo). “I get it — you want to look at it later. But then you would not have experienced it in the moment.” **_NEXT:_** [**_Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes_**](http://time.com/4900280/total-solar-eclipse-2017-video-watch/) Tyson, the head of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, said missing the moment “would be to not live as full a life as you could have.” And watching a video later is not the same as truly experiencing it, he added. The eclipse will bring sudden darkness to parts of 14 states within its path of totality. Oregon will be the first to witness the phenomenon at 10:16 a.m. PST and South Carolina will be the last about 2:44 p.m. EDT. ## Transcript [00:00] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/"},"headline":"Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says You Should Put Down Your Phone During the Solar Eclipse","datePublished":"2017-08-21T16:23:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:30:12.796Z","description":"\"Experience this one emotionally, psychologically, physically\"","url":"https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/","keywords":["Eclipse","Space","onetime","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt007722f16fe595e5/6988da7b656a3fdff3bd15d9/neil-degrasse-tyson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt007722f16fe595e5/6988da7b656a3fdff3bd15d9/neil-degrasse-tyson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Neil-deGrasse-Tyson","caption":"","creditText":"Michael Campanella—2017 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/eclipse/","name":"Eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4909154/solar-eclipse-neil-degrasse-tyson/","name":"Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says You Should Put Down Your Phone During the Solar Eclipse"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch the Whole Total Solar Eclipse in 4 Minutes","description":"Millions of Americans turned their eyes skyward as a rare total solar eclipse sailed across the country from coast to coast for the first time, turning day into night in more than a dozen states. 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