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 MAA 
We Grow Together

First of All...

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

We are glad you found us. 

 

Like you, we had been looking for a way out of media insanity. We tried one strategy after another in an attempt 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 and it really worked. Welcome to MAA and our solution.

About Us

MAA's Preamble

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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.

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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.

MAA's 12 Steps & 12 Traditions

Getting Started

Are You a Media Addict?

  • Do you stay online, play video games, or watch TV longer than originally intended?

  • Do you use media as a way of escaping from problems or to relieve your feelings of loneliness, guilt, anxiety, depression, helplessness, boredom, etc.?

  • Has the overuse of media jeopardized or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational, career opportunity, or kept you from fulfilling your life goals?

  • Have you made sincere efforts to control, cut back, or stop your use of media but have been unsuccessful?

This Is Your Brain on Media

"Some evidence suggests that if you are suffering from [media addiction], your brain makeup is similar to those [who] suffer from a chemical dependency, such as drugs or alcohol. Interestingly, some studies link [media addiction] to physically changing the brain structure – specifically affecting the amount of gray and white matter in regions of the prefrontal brain..."

Closed Back to Basics Sobriety Groups

These daily sessions are designed to help members get sober and stay sober from media addiction by fasting together and taking all of MAA's Twelve Steps during this media fast, thus staying ahead of the disease.

Our closed Back-to-Basics Groups run in 4-week cycles and are available to anyone who is willing to make certain commitments and participate in this structured program.

Our Program of Recovery

Daily Meetings

In our Zoom and phone meetings, you will meet media addicts who are successfully maintaining media sobriety.  We invite you to attend and learn more about the disease of media addiction and the steps we took to find relief and recovery from this compulsive disease.

Recorded Meetings

If you can’t attend a meeting right now, you can listen to our recorded talks where members share their stories of what it was like, what happened, and how are they recovering from media addiction now.  

Open Big Book Step Study

These weekly meetings are Big Book Step Study meeting using the Back-to-Basics format. These are open meetings for all MAA members who want to work the steps quickly and often, originating from the early A.A. beginners meetings.

Symptoms, Tools, and Promises

Symptoms of Media Addiction

  1. Dissatisfaction with everyday life—We depend on media as a way to avoid emotional discomfort, boredom, pain, and problems. Media has become our main source of relief, reward, relaxation, recreation, and relationships.

Tools of Action for

Media Addicts 

  1. Go to meetings—We attend MAA meetings to learn about media addiction, stop isolating, gain support, and identify with other recovering media addicts. Meetings are the platform we use to build a robust personal support network and a real sense of belonging. We encourage newcomers to attend 90 meetings in 90 days to jump-start their recovery.

Promises

The Promises of MAA 

Signs and Symptoms of Media Recovery

  1. Satisfaction with everyday life—We turn to our Higher Power and our fellowship to share emotional discomfort, boredom, pain, and problems as well as our joys and accomplishments. Community and spiritual living have become our main sources of daily satisfaction as we have found continued relief, reward, recreation, relaxation, and fulfilling relationships in activities outside of media.

Sobriety Groups

Closed Back to Basics Groups

These daily sessions are designed to help members get sober and stay sober from media addiction by fasting together and taking all of MAA's Twelve Steps during this media fast, thus staying ahead of the disease.

Open Big Book Step Study

These weekly meetings are Big Book Step Study meeting using the Back-to-Basics format. These are open meetings for all MAA members who want to work the steps quickly and often, originating from the early A.A. beginners meetings.

Home Study 

Back-to-Basics, "A Design for Living" Home Study. Listen and work alone or take all 12 Steps in 4 sessions with a media sobriety action partner.

MAA

We Grow Together

We appreciate your generosity as we  grow as a fellowship.

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