A conversation with construction worker Ivan Lufstader about his phone. Conducted by Reed Immer, recorded by Reed’s iPhone 4.
Image credit: Ashley Marshall
RI: Do you use your phone at work a lot? How does being in construction influence your phone use?
IL: Everyone at my company has an iPhone now. We use Google Sketchup to help with 3D designs and measurements. We’re working to sync the app, which is pretty limited, with the more advanced 3D program we have on desktop computers. There’s currently an issue with the Sketchup program properly reading the more advanced desktop files.
RI: So it’s like N64 and SNES?
IL: More like Gameboy and Gameboy Color, and all the colors aren’t showing properly… That was a good analogy, was that recorded?
RI: Yep.
IL: Nice. So yeah I use my phone for that, but also just for escapism, like in the bathroom. I’ll stay in there for 10 extra minutes hanging out. One of my coworkers will stay in the bathroom for like 20 minutes. But it makes the day a little easier, a little less Kill me now [laughs].
RI: That’s interesting. I’m online all day at work, so my escapism is turning off my phone during lunch and just walking.
IL: Yeah, after work I want to be inside, under the blankets, in a digital coma.
RI: Digital coma…
IL: I think that’s a lyric in an Orgy song.
[I checked up on Orgy lyrics. Ivan was probably referencing Fiction (Dreams In Digital)]
IL: I feel like cigarettes would make this interview go smoother.
RI: Sure, let’s go get you some.
[We go get Ivan some cigarettes.]
RI: So do you use social media more on your phone or on your computer?
IL: On my phone for sure. I don’t even own a computer right now, and I haven’t for a long time, so my phone’s the only option. I can’t even tell you the last time I logged into Facebook on a computer.
I can’t even tell you the last time I logged into Facebook on a computer.
RI: Do you check Facebook the most?
IL: No, Instagram. It’s cool, sharing pictures, posting stupid shit. I also find some good music through it through hashtags, which are usually very dumb but not always.
RI: You find music through Instagram?
IL: Yeah some bands, but almost all the music I discover now is through Spotify, which is my favorite investment on my phone, for the unlimited mobile account. Spotify has the Similar Artists page, through which I’ve found a ton of great bands I’ve never heard of before.
Almost all the music I discover now is through Spotify, which is my favorite investment on my phone.
RI: Do you buy stuff on your phone?
IL: I’ve tried but not much. I’ve bought one or two things through the Amazon app, which is pretty cool, but I’ve also tried straight through websites and it’s tricky, because one time they charged me fives times for the same thing and didn’t refund all of it. So no, not really, only once or twice.
RI: Do you buy apps?
IL: Only one, a camera app called Camera Pro. I use that quite a bit.
RI: Do you like the iPhone 5 camera way more than your old phone’s camera?
IL: Oh yeah. My old phone wasn’t even close, it was horrible. Couldn’t shoot for shit in the dark, everything came out with these weird colors, didn’t have good depth perception. I only got that phone because it had a rubber seal and was waterproof and dustproof.
RI: Would you stop using your smartphone altogether for $2,000 a month?
IL: Absolutely, could I have a house phone?
RI: Sure. How about for $500 a month?
IL: Fuck no [laughs]. It’s gotta be $2,000. Anything less, I don’t know, it’d be good to have the money but it would suck.
RI: How much money would it take for you to downgrade to a non-smartphone?
IL: $1000, no, $800, I don’t know. I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t bother to keep in touch if I didn’t have a smartphone, cause it’s all through social media now. They wouldn’t call me or anything, only through Facebook or Twitter. And I don’t even have the energy for Twitter.
RI: No? What do you mean?
IL: I don’t have the energy to participate in a lot of those networks. I like Instagram the most because it feel small and simple, artistic in a way.
I like Instagram the most because it feels small and simple, artistic in a way.
RI: It cuts out the fluff.
IL: Yeah, it cuts out the fluff and it’s still social. Twitter I read when I’m bored, but hardly post anything. Facebook I spend way more time reading than chatting or commenting or whatever. A lot of the time I’ll type out a message or comment and then think, Do I really want to deal with this? And get all these message from people? So I’ll delete it. I’ll just think it.
Other posts in the Young Adults And Their Phones interview series: