Local content creator hosts no-phone Y2K party to help people connect off the grid

SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- On a Friday night in October, hundreds of Silver Lake clubgoers took a Y2K throwback party to the next level. They dressed for the theme in nostalgic retro looks, danced to 2000s hits under flashing lights and they left their phones outside.

The no-phone party was content creator Cat Goetze's brainchild. She says she wanted to find a way to "get people off the feed and in real life." So, she threw a party.

The idea came to Goetze after she saw a piece of data that shocked her.

"I came across this statistic that 4.1% of Americans went to a party on an average weekend in 2023, and it broke my heart; it blew my mind," said Goetze.

Goetze announced the plans for her "no-phone, Y2K throwback party" just 4 days before the event in a video posted to her social media platforms. She admits she wasn't sure how many people would come on such short notice.

Then, on Oct. 17, over 700 people showed up to El Cid in Silver Lake ready to party - without their phones.

"It was just really cool to see so many people opt in to the experience of putting their phone in their glove compartment," said Goetze. "I mean, I literally saw a girl give a guy her number by writing it on a napkin. Like, I don't know what is more emblematic of the early 2000s and pre-cellphone era than that."

Goetze makes content under the username "@askcatgpt," focused on helping her followers find a healthy balance with technology. She came back to social media last year after a five-year hiatus and has since amassed more than 500,000 followers on TikTok.

As a content creator, she says she wants to be part of the solution instead of contributing to keeping people on their phones.

"We've got to get back out there and start talking to each other again because we're not going to find connection on the apps," said Goetze.

She hopes her no-phone party will be the first step to help people reconnect.

"When you have a smartphone in your pocket, it is so easy to rely on it as a crutch. And to just remove that as a crutch and just invite people to connect is hopefully, at least, if nothing else, a stepping stone."

If you missed the no-phone party, don't worry! Goetze says this is just the beginning of what she calls the "analog renaissance."