A conversation with dumbphone loyalist Ella Karlin about her phone. Conducted by Reed Immer, recorded by Reed’s iPhone 4.
Image credit: Ashley Marshall
RI: So you don’t have a smartphone by choice, you’re a dumbphoner–how does that feel?
EK: It’s interesting, but of course I’m very reliant on others for information. I recently had to approach someone on the street for directions and they were very confused why I couldn’t just look it up myself, because they assumed that I of course had a smartphone.
RI: Are you planning to get a smartphone?
EK: No.
RI: Are you planning to stay away from one?
EK: For as long as I can. When this phone goes bust then I imagine it’ll be difficult to find a dumbphone. I don’t want my internet access to be immediate and automatic, and I try to be mindful of how much of my identity I put on the internet. Like when you’re constructing yourself in a digital image, that’s weird shit. Brazen wilderness of the soul.
RI: Do you remember the first digital profile of yourself you created?
EK: It was AIM [AOL Instant Messenger], back in middle school.
RI: Were you striving then to be represented differently online than you thought you were represented in person?
EK: I think the person … yeah I don’t know. That’s a tough question.
RI: Sorry, that is a tough question. Did you chat with people you wouldn’t speak with offline, even though they were in your physical vicinity?
EK: Yeah totally, definitely. Those conversations that I had online with someone who I couldn’t establish similar dialogue with in person always felt very important. I’d lose a lot of sleep over them.
Those conversations that I had online with someone who I couldn’t establish similar dialogue with in person always felt very important. I’d lose a lot of sleep over them.
RI: What other social networks do you use?
EK: Well for one I don’t use Facebook, or rather haven’t used it in 5 years, but I like Twitter. It’s a writing exercise in 140 characters. Limit makes the art–I mean I’m not saying Twitter is art but you can be artful. Teju Cole is artful on Twitter.
RI: He’s awesome, but the thing is I’ve only read his Twitter, never any of his books.
EK: Me too! And I’m always like I should read this guy’s fucking books!
[Ella fiddles with her dumbphone, a heavy weather-resistant brick with rubber shockguard sidings.]
RI: That phone’s a rock.
EK: It is, and it’s strange because I’ll drop it and everyone with a smartphone around me will gasp, they think something horrible will happen when it hits the ground. But the phone’s fine. It dents the ground.
I’ll drop [my dumbphone] and everyone with a smartphone around me will gasp, they think something horrible will happen when it hits the ground. But my phone’s fine. It dents the ground.
RI: It’s great to be worry-free. You take on a lot of worries when your phone is a super-fragile slab of glass, not to mention the increased amount of information a smartphone brings into your life.
EK: Agreed. I think smartphone’s carry a lot of chaos with them. Do you think you’re jealous of me in any way? For not having a super-fragile smartphone?
RI: I am, and I was a relatively late adopter, at least compared to my friends. But when you’re this far behind in device generations [picks up Ella’s dumbphone], new device releases stop being relative and you’re not pressured to buy the new thing. It’s in it’s own league.
EK: My friend works at the Apple Store and he said 90% of the calls he took this week were people asking for gold iPhones. Everyone’s freaking out because there’s a new color, like they’re making it a status symbol again. When iPhones released it was a status symbol to have one, but then everyone got one and it stopped being a big deal. But now there’s gold …
Other posts in the Young Adults And Their Phones interview series: