Kevyn Fong, also known as Level4alpha, is a content creator, comedian, writer and Sailor Moon aficionado. His original content has amassed over 200 million views across all platforms, focusing on the comedic intersections of the Asian American and LGBTQ+ experience. He can be found at Costco every Saturday eating the free samples and buying a month’s worth of chicken breast (boneless and skinless). (Photos by Andrew Dinh.)
Do you remember the last time you went to the bathroom without your phone?
Did you know that instead of spending 15 minutes on the toilet staring at that $1,000 slab of metal and glass, you could get out in 5 minutes and go on with your day? Despite the joy and ease the modern phone has brought to my life (music, photos, Grindr hook-ups), it’s also brought me anxiety and stress (less sleep, doom scrolling, Grindr hook-ups). We all talk about how we should cut down on screen time, but do we actually?
These were questions I asked myself around spring 2023 before switching from my iPhone 13 to a Nokia flip phone. Shocking, I know, they still make flip phones today, which are targeted mostly towards the elderly. Though, as an aging millennial, I am basically considered geriatric, so same difference. Living in Los Angeles, detoxes are trendy (who hasn’t done a juice cleanse?), but a new detox is arising – a digital one. However, I didn’t want just a detox, I wanted an actual lifestyle change. I committed myself to use a flip phone for 30 days, and after that month, the side effects of not having a smartphone were so positive that I continued… for a full year. As of the time of writing this article, I’ve been on a flip phone for over 15 months and I’m not going back. Some people may find that impossible, especially considering my career as a content creator, but guess what? You don’t need a smartphone to create content.
As a content creator, I release scripted content multiple times a week. I’m constantly writing, filming, editing and uploading (then I repeat the cycle forever until the internet ceases to exist or until a prince comes and marries me.) But I’m not creating content ON my flip phone — my flip phone is there as a means for people to reach me and nothing more. I film on a DSLR, edit on my laptop, and upload and schedule my content through the web browser. These tools exist for content creators and shifting my content to desktop has helped me focus more on my creativity without being distracted by someone’s Instagram story.
There were a couple of reasons why I moved to a flip phone. Was the catalyst a boy that I poured an obscene amount of time into because of my feelings that evolved into delusion, where I spent hours spiraling on social media, causing myself to go into a depression vortex?… Maybe. But it was also the mental gymnastics my brain does every time I open any social media. My feed would be: Meme, hot guy, cat video, mass shooting, cat video, another mass shooting, hot guy, friend’s wedding photos, meme, war protests, another mass shooting, hot guy, a friend’s Kickstarter campaign that I’ll ignore, and so forth. Social media was constantly telling me that I should be out there “living life to the fullest” while also immediately telling me I should be staying at home for my “mental health.” Was social media gaslighting me like when my Filipino mom tells me I’ve gained weight while she adds another scoop of rice to my plate? I couldn’t take it anymore, and I hit a limit!
The culture of smartphones was becoming comical to me. We bring it with us everywhere, and it’s no surprise why, it does everything for us! Want to watch a movie? There’s an app for that. Want chili cheese fries for dinner? There’s an app for that. Want a hook-up at 2 am? There’s an app for that. Instead of me controlling my phone, my phone was controlling me. It was the last thing I saw before bed and the first thing I reached for when I woke up. Silencing notifications doesn’t work. Turning on screen time reminders doesn’t work. Deleting the app off your phone doesn’t work. I’ve tried it all to varying degrees of failure. Changing my habits would take a big shift and I was ready to do it. Once I got over my green text bubble shame, I was off to the races.
We have a physical relationship with our phones and screens, and like a child weaning off their mother, I had some growing up to do. Switching to a flip phone forced me to become more present with everything. When I pulled out my flip phone out of habit, I faced the sobering fact that I could only talk and text. Even if I wanted to watch YouTube, it would take 30 seconds to type out on the T9 keyboard and by then, the dopamine rush had subsided. I love using my flip phone in public because when people ask, “Why do you use a flip phone?” and I respond with, “My mental health,” their immediate response is, “I totally get it.”
Over the last year, I have met only one other person using a flip phone and our reasonings were similar – we were addicted to our smartphones. Moving to a flip phone forced us to be disconnected and if anyone wanted to get ahold of us, they could still call or text. I’ve talked with people who have done a light social media detox, such as deleting an app for a weekend, and they’ve noticed a positive effect on how they navigate their day.
The flip phone was the best $80 I have ever spent on myself. There are benefits to my life that I’ve never thought achievable: I’ve become more present with others, I’ve cut down tremendously on my screentime, I fall asleep immediately and stay asleep for longer periods, my day is not thrown off by a social media post, my FOMO has diminished almost completely, and most of all, when I go to the bathroom, I just go to the bathroom. No more moments where I’ve lost track of time sitting on the toilet where my legs go numb and suddenly 45 minutes have gone by. It feels like, “I can’t live without my phone because of X, Y, Z…” but phones and social media culture is just a little over a decade old. Prior to that, we were able to make movies, TV shows, travel around the world, and even went to the Moon without social media and phones!
I do imagine a world where we can have both modern phones and a healthy relationship with them. Until then, I’m going to put myself and happiness first. Now, if only switching to a flip phone could help sort out my daddy issues, but I’ll save that for another time.
