12 Step Recovery From
The Compulsive Use of All Media
Preamble
Media Addicts Anonymous is an international fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength, and hope, come together to find relief and recovery from media addiction. We welcome everyone who wants to stop using media compulsively.
There are no dues or fees for membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions, neither soliciting nor accepting outside donations. MAA as a whole is not affiliated with any public or private organization. We have no opinions on outside issues, especially those concerning media. We neither endorse nor oppose any causes, political views, ideology, or religious doctrine.
We support all forms of media sobriety, including abstinence from electronic media, films, radio, newspapers, magazines, books, and music. We use AA's 12 Steps and 12 Traditions as adapted for Media Addicts Anonymous as our program of recovery and utilize the tools of MAA to clarify compulsive, obsessive, or destructive media-related behaviors and to develop strategies to improve our general quality of life. Our primary purpose is to abstain from personal addictive media one day at a time and to carry the message of recovery to other media addicts who still suffer.
The A.A. Preamble is adapted with permission of the AA Grapevine, Inc. Permission to adapt the Preamble does not in any way imply affiliation with or endorsement of this organization.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE
We are so glad you found us.
Like you, we had been looking for a way out of media insanity. We tried one strategy after another to try to cure our media addiction, but we kept falling back into compulsive media-drunk behaviors.
Then we found the solution!
Realizing media addiction is just like alcohol or drug addiction, we began to apply the time-tested instructions laid out by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous in their book. Here is what we began to follow as a program of recovery from media addiction:
HOW IT WORKS
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually [individuals] who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honestly. There chances are less that average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol [media addiction]—cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find God now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked God's protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
The 12 Steps of Media Addicts Anonymous
-
We admitted we were powerless over media—that our lives had become unmanageable.
-
Came to believe that a Power greater than our selves could restore us to sanity.
-
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.
-
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
-
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
-
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
-
Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.
-
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
-
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
-
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
-
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out.
-
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other media addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
The Twelve Traditions of Media Addicts Anonymous
-
Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon MAA unity.
-
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as is expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
-
The only requirement for MAA membership is a desire to stop compulsively using media.
-
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or MAA as a whole.
-
Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the media addict who still suffers.
-
An MAA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the MAA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
-
Every MAA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
-
Media Addicts Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
-
MAA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
-
Media Addicts Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the MAA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
-
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
-
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
The Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous have been reprinted and adapted with the permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (“A.A.W.S.”). Permission to reprint and adapt the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions does not mean that Alcoholics Anonymous is affiliated with this program. A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism only - use of A.A.’s Steps or an adapted version in connection with programs and activities which are patterned after A.A., but which address other problems, or use in any other non-A.A. context, does not imply otherwise.
The 12 Steps of AA are as follows:
-
We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
-
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
-
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
-
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
-
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongdoings.
-
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
-
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
-
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
-
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
-
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
-
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
-
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
These are the 12 Traditions of AA:
-
Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA
-
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
-
The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking.
-
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or AA as a whole.
-
Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
-
An AA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
-
Every AA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
-
AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
-
Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues, hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
-
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.
-
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.