Barack Obama does not text or own smartphone with recording device

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama does not text, tweet or own a smartphone which contains a recording device due to security reasons.

"I do not physically tweet in general. I don't text. I email. I still have a Blackberry," the president said.

Obama added that he is not allowed to use a smart phone with a recording device for security reasons.

"I can't use phones with recorders in them. So a lot of the new-fangled stuff, for security reasons, I don't get," he told ABC News.

But he said that as for his teenage daughters, they use smart phones and exchange text messages with their friends.

Obama also said he could not reveal former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's new email address.

"I can't share it with you. I don't think she'd want you to have it, frankly," Obama said.

Earlier, Clinton was harshly criticised for using her private email address to conduct State Department business during her job as Secretary of State.

Obama also spoke on the shootings in Ferguson. "What had been happening in Ferguson was oppressive and objectionable and was worthy of protest, but there was no excuse for criminal acts," Obama said.