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.
 

Give service—Giving service right away is THE MASTER PLAN for finding success in getting and staying media sober. Service gives us immediate purpose and connection within our fellowship. We suggest that every newcomer and old-timer choose a home group and take on a service position. Any form of service, such as moderator, time-keeper, action partner, dashboard operator, etc., adds to the quality of our own recovery and helps us stay sober. Sponsoring and carrying the message to the media addict who still suffers is the cornerstone of our own personal recovery.
 

Work with a sponsor—A sponsor is a media-sober member of MAA who is working MAA's Steps and Tools to the best of their ability. We ask a sponsor to guide us through the Twelve Steps and assist us in staying media-sober. We work closely with our sponsor to discover what behaviors, emotions, situations, and circumstances trigger the “phenomenon of craving," and the things that may contribute to being out of control and compulsively using media.
 

Fast from unnecessary media—Fasting is an essential tool if someone sincerely desires relief from media addiction. It is the tourniquet we use to stop the bleeding. We strongly advocate fasting from unnecessary media long enough to break the compulsive cycle. By fasting from all media except what is necessary for work, school, or family needs, we see our media addiction with greater clarity, detoxify our minds and bodies from the overuse of media, and begin to connect to ourselves and others in deeper and healthier ways.
 

Design a media replacement plan—Because media has become our main source of relief, relaxation, reward, recreation, and relationships, we need to find other activities we enjoy. A media replacement plan is an important system to create as soon as possible so we will have enjoyable and healthy activities to replace media.
 

Create a media withdrawal plan—When we stop using media, we find there is often a period of withdrawal and detoxification. A media withdrawal plan provides us with a strategy to get the help and support we need during early abstinence. A sponsor and/or action partner help provide tools and guidance in creating this personal plan.
 

Get an action partner and make outreach calls—We find it helpful to pair up with an action partner to help us stay accountable with our media usage on a regular basis. Media addiction isolated us from real people. We recover from loneliness and gain support by making frequent outreach calls to other media addicts. We use our support network to bookend our media use.
 

Prioritize sleep and body care—Our ability to get sober and stay sober from media includes getting proper rest and a good night's sleep. Therefore, we suggest setting a media curfew for ourselves along with a regular bedtime. We keep electronic media out of the bedroom. During the day, we stay connected to our bodies by eating nourishing food and getting proper exercise and fresh air.
 

Meditate—We regularly take time to meditate in order to feed our spirits in ways that media never could. Meditation helps us connect to a Power greater than ourselves which then trains our mind to turn to this Power rather than seek relief through media.
 

Read recovery literature—We regularly read and study MAA literature as well as the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous to deepen our understanding of addiction and the pathway to freedom and recovery.
 

Clarify through writing—When we write our thoughts down, it allows us to see our disease more clearly. Writing is an indispensable tool for working through our emotions. When we put our difficulties down on paper, it becomes easier to understand a situation and discern any necessary action.
 

Develop a media sobriety plan—After we have fasted and become media sober (i.e., abstinent from all unnecessary media) and taken all Twelve Steps with a sponsor, we work with our sponsor to create a media sobriety plan. This plan outlines our personal intentions for media usage. It is our unique guide to making media decisions, as it defines what, when, how, where, and why we use our devices. For many of us, our sobriety plan becomes a continuation of our media fast, that is, refraining from any unnecessary media. Ultimately, our media sobriety plan excludes any media that is our alcoholic (bottom line) media. We continue to re-evaluate our plan with our sponsor to stay media accountable and prevent relapsing.