Step 1 meeting

Prévia do material em texto

Step 1 meeting 
 
Blue notes are for the chair 
Green notes are for the timekeeper 
Orange notes are for the tech co-host 
 
Please feel free to use these notes in any way, shape, or form. You are welcome to use portions 
or everything together, translate the notes, or adapt the notes for use in other recovery-related 
contexts. You may also share these notes with anyone who you feel may find them useful. A 
guide to translating the notes can be found here. 
 
[We recommend starting right on time as the scripts typically run 90 minutes. This version of the 
script is specific to the workshop and includes private links. It’s distinct from the public version 
accessible from the ITAA website.] 
 
Important: If this is the last meeting before the second Sunday in March or the first 
Sunday in November, please inform all workshop participants that US Daylight Savings is 
approaching so that they double check the calendar to ensure they don’t miss their next 
meeting. 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
Step 1 notes: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dQ9gtMNz6zp_sXYfL7KBazOqEvxj1DxBvlsSmud
H5Wk/edit?usp=sharing 
— 
 
Chair 1: 
 
Welcome everybody! My name is ___, and I’m a recovering internet and technology addict. 
 
Chair 2: 
 
And my name is ___, and I’m a recovering internet and technology addict. 
 
Let’s start with the serenity prayer in the “we” form. Would someone who didn’t volunteer last 
meeting like to lead us? 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
Higher Power, grant us the Serenity 
to accept the things we cannot change, 
the Courage to change the things we can, 
and the Wisdom to know the difference. 
— 
 
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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJ3uzB_MhSd5IrNQd430qMLXHy3vvqV1lu-dr8x7jsI/edit?usp=sharing
Thank you. And would somebody else like to volunteer to read our second opening prayer? 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
Higher Power, help me this day to understand the true meaning of powerlessness. 
Remove from me all denial of my addiction, and help me open any doors which I have 
held shut. Grant me an open mind and a peaceful heart, that I may see myself without 
fear. 
— 
 
Let’s take a minute of silence to ground ourselves. We can meditate, connect to our higher 
power, or just relax and breathe. 
 
Timekeeper [1 minute of silence] 
 
Chair 1: 
 
Welcome back everyone to the second session of our workshop. We hope people were able to 
connect with sharing partners over the last few days. Today we’ll begin moving through the 
Steps, starting with Step One. 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
 
Step One reads: We admitted we were powerless over internet and technology—that our 
lives had become unmanageable. 
— 
 
Many of us have had some kind of a Step One experience, as it’s often what prompts us to 
reach out to ITAA. However, it’s not uncommon to flip-flop with Step One: sometimes it’s 
incredibly, painfully clear that we’re powerless—and other times, we feel like we can control it, or 
we’ve gotten better, or that we can control the outcomes that result from using too much, or we 
feel certain emotions that seem to justify using. This kind of flip-flopping can be confusing to go 
through. It can hold us back from fully taking the First Step, and from opening to the spiritual 
growth and vulnerability of the next Steps. So in this meeting, we will be opening ourselves to 
the possibility of a deep and solid admission of powerlessness that we can always return to. 
 
Our program is based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and the literature that program 
has developed over many decades. We’re grateful for their groundbreaking work on overcoming 
addiction. It’s been the group conscience of this workshop to read from a slightly modified 
version of the original AA literature which substitutes in gender-neutral language. Addiction 
doesn’t discriminate based on gender, race, age, or socioeconomic status, and we want this 
workshop and our program of recovery to be as accessible as possible to anyone who needs it. 
 
The readings often reference alcohol, and readings we do from other programs might reference 
other addictive behaviors or substances, such as drugs or food. We encourage you to pay 
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attention to where you identify with the underlying patterns that are common to all addictions, 
and to what resonates with your own experience. 
 
We’ll do a reading now from the Big Book of AA which has 24 paragraphs, so we’ll take 24 
volunteers to read. If you would like to read, please raise your hand and then read one 
paragraph when it’s your turn. For those on a phone or tablet who can’t see the order of the 
hands, we will regularly type the upcoming order of the next 5-10 hands into the chat. Please 
only read one paragraph and wait to raise your hand again until everyone has had an 
opportunity to read. 
 
Chair: [People can raise hands to read 1 paragraph and then pass (people may read 2 or 3 
paragraphs each if there aren’t many participants)] 
Tech co-host: [Screenshare reading] 
 
From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, pages 30-37 
 
 
Chapter 3 
 
MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM 
 
MOST OF us have been unwilling to admit we were real alcoholics. No one likes to be thought 
bodily and mentally different from others. Therefore, it is not surprising that our drinking careers 
have been characterized by countless vain attempts to prove we could drink like other people. 
The idea that somehow, someday we will control and enjoy our drinking is the great obsession 
of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the 
gates of insanity or death. 
 
We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is 
the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to 
be smashed. 
 
We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking. We know 
that no real alcoholic ever recovers control. All of us felt at times that we were regaining control, 
but such intervals—usually brief—were inevitably followed by still less control, which led in time 
to pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization. We are convinced to an individual that alcoholics 
of our type are in the grip of a progressive illness. Over any considerable period we get worse, 
never better. 
 
We are like people who have lost their legs; they never grow new ones. Neither does there 
appear to be any kind of treatment which will make alcoholics of our kind like other people. We 
have tried every imaginable remedy. In some instances there has been brief recovery, followed 
always by a still worse relapse. Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no 
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https://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/en_bigbook_chapt3.pdf
such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic. Science may one day accomplish 
this, but it hasn't done so yet. 
 
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that 
class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves 
exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic. If anyone who is showing inability to control their 
drinking can do the right-about-face and drink like a normal person, our hats are off to them. 
Heaven knows, we have tried hard enough and long enough to drink like other people! 
 
Here are some of the methods we have tried: Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, 
never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the 
house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to 
brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not 
taking a trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical 
exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting 
voluntary commitmentto asylums—we could increase the list ad infinitum. 
 
We do not like to pronounce any individual as alcoholic, but you can quickly diagnose yourself. 
Step over to the nearest barroom and try some controlled drinking. Try to drink and stop 
abruptly. Try it more than once. It will not take long for you to decide, if you are honest with 
yourself about it. It may be worth a bad case of jitters if you get a full knowledge of your 
condition. 
 
Though there is no way of proving it, we believe that early in our drinking careers most of us 
could have stopped drinking. But the difficulty is that few alcoholics have enough desire to stop 
while there is yet time. We have heard of a few instances where people, who showed definite 
signs of alcoholism, were able to stop for a long period because of an overpowering desire to do 
so. Here is one. 
 
A man of thirty was doing a great deal of spree drinking. He was very nervous in the morning 
after these bouts and quieted himself with more liquor. He was ambitious to succeed in 
business, but saw that he would get nowhere if he drank at all. Once he started, he had no 
control whatever. He made up his mind that until he had been successful in business and had 
retired, he would not touch another drop. An exceptional man, he remained bone dry for 
twenty-five years and retired at the age of fifty-five, after a successful and happy business 
career. Then he fell victim to a belief which practically every alcoholic has—that his long period 
of sobriety and self-discipline had qualified him to drink as other people do. Out came his carpet 
slippers and a bottle. In two months he was in a hospital, puzzled and humiliated. He tried to 
regulate his drinking for a while, making several trips to the hospital meantime. Then, gathering 
all his forces, he attempted to stop altogether and found he could not. Every means of solving 
his problem which money could buy was at his disposal. Every attempt failed. Though a robust 
man at retirement, he went to pieces quickly and was dead within four years. 
 
4 
This case contains a powerful lesson. Most of us have believed that if we remained sober for a 
long stretch, we could thereafter drink normally. But here is a man who at fifty-five years found 
he was just where he had left off at thirty. We have seen the truth demonstrated again and 
again: "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic." Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, 
we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no 
reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol. 
 
Young people may be encouraged by this man's experience to think that they can stop, as he 
did, on their own will power. We doubt if many of them can do it, because none will really want 
to stop, and hardly one of them, because of the peculiar mental twist already acquired, will find 
they can win out. Several of our crowd, people of thirty or less, had been drinking only a few 
years, but they found themselves as helpless as those who had been drinking twenty years. 
 
To be gravely affected, one does not necessarily have to drink a long time nor take the 
quantities some of us have. Potential alcoholics often turn into the real thing and are gone 
beyond recall in a few years. Certain drinkers, who would be greatly insulted if called alcoholics, 
are astonished at their inability to stop. We, who are familiar with the symptoms, see large 
numbers of potential alcoholics among young people everywhere. But try and get them to see it! 
 
As we look back, we feel we had gone on drinking many years beyond the point where we could 
quit on our will power. If anyone questions whether they have entered this dangerous area, let 
them try leaving liquor alone for one year. If they are a real alcoholic and very far advanced, 
there is scant chance of success. In the early days of our drinking we occasionally remained 
sober for a year or more, becoming serious drinkers again later. Though you may be able to 
stop for a considerable period, you may yet be a potential alcoholic. We think few, to whom this 
book will appeal, can stay dry anything like a year. Some will be drunk the day after making their 
resolutions; most of them within a few weeks. 
 
For those who are unable to drink moderately the question is how to stop altogether. We are 
assuming, of course, that the reader desires to stop. Whether such a person can quit upon a 
nonspiritual basis depends upon the extent to which they have already lost the power to choose 
whether they will drink or not. Many of us felt that we had plenty of character. There was a 
tremendous urge to cease forever. Yet we found it impossible. This is the baffling feature of 
alcoholism as we know it—this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity 
or the wish. 
 
How then shall we help our readers determine, to their own satisfaction, whether they are one of 
us? The experiment of quitting for a period of time will be helpful, but we think we can render an 
even greater service to alcoholic sufferers and perhaps to the medical community. So we shall 
describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the 
crux of the problem. 
 
What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate 
experiment of the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with them after a spree which has 
5 
brought them to the point of divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when they walk directly into a 
saloon. Why do they do it? Of what are they thinking? 
 
Our first example is a friend we shall call Jim. This man has a charming wife and family. He 
inherited a lucrative automobile agency. He had a commendable World War record. He is a 
good salesman. Everybody likes him. He is an intelligent man, normal so far as we can see, 
except for a nervous disposition. He did no drinking until he was thirty-five. In a few years he 
became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be committed. On leaving the asylum he 
came into contact with us. 
 
We told him what we knew of alcoholism and the answer we had found. He made a beginning. 
His family was re-assembled, and he began to work as a salesman for the business he had lost 
through drinking. All went well for a time, but he failed to enlarge his spiritual life. To his 
consternation, he found himself drunk half a dozen times in rapid succession. On each of these 
occasions we worked with him, reviewing carefully what had happened. He agreed he was a 
real alcoholic and in a serious condition. He knew he faced another trip to the asylum if he kept 
on. Moreover, he would lose his family for whom he had a deep affection. 
 
Yet he got drunk again. We asked him to tell us exactly how it happened. This is his story: "I 
came to work on Tuesday morning. I remember I felt irritated that I had to be a salesman for a 
concern I once owned. I had a few words with the boss, but nothing serious. Then I decided to 
drive into the country and see one of my prospects for a car. On the way I felt hungry so I 
stopped at a roadside place where they have a bar. I had no intention of drinking. I just thought I 
would get a sandwich. I also had the notion that I might find a customer for a car at this place, 
which was familiar for I had been going to it for years. I had eaten there many times during the 
months I was sober. I sat down at a table and ordered a sandwich and a glass of milk. Still no 
thought of drinking. I ordered another sandwich and decided to have another glass of milk. 
 
"Suddenly the thought crossed my mind that if I were to put an ounce of whiskey in my milk it 
couldn't hurt me on a full stomach. I ordered a whiskey and poured it into the milk. I vaguely 
sensed I was not being any too smart, but felt reassured as I was taking the whiskey on a full 
stomach. The experiment went so well that I ordered another whiskey and poured it into moremilk. That didn't seem to bother me so I tried another." 
 
Thus started one more journey to the asylum for Jim. Here was the threat of commitment, the 
loss of family and position, to say nothing of that intense mental and physical suffering which 
drinking always caused him. He had much knowledge about himself as an alcoholic. Yet all 
reasons for not drinking were easily pushed aside in favor of the foolish idea that he could take 
whiskey if only he mixed it with milk! 
 
Whatever the precise definition of the word may be, we call this plain insanity. How can such a 
lack of proportion, of the ability to think straight, be called anything else? 
 
6 
You may think this an extreme case. To us it is not far-fetched, for this kind of thinking has been 
characteristic of every single one of us. We have sometimes reflected more than Jim did upon 
the consequences. But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our 
sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink. Our 
sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask 
ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened. 
 
In some circumstances we have gone out deliberately to get drunk, feeling ourselves justified by 
nervousness, anger, worry, depression, jealousy or the like. But even in this type of beginning 
we are obliged to admit that our justification for a spree was insanely insufficient in the light of 
what always happened. We now see that when we began to drink deliberately, instead of 
casually, there was little serious or effective thought during the period of premeditation of what 
the terrific consequences might be. 
 
Tech co-host: [End screen share] 
 
 
Chair 2: 
 
Despite discussing alcoholism, we may have found ourselves nodding along and relating to the 
stories we heard. Many of us have used trivial justifications that in retrospect were out of all 
proportion with the suffering we were committing ourselves to. These justifications can seem so 
harmless at first. We might think to go online to look up an interesting question or research 
something we need to buy, and 10 hours later find ourselves sleepless, exhausted, in terrible 
pain, and deeply puzzled by what has happened to us. Like the alcoholics in the reading, we 
can find ourselves repeating this same mistake, again and again, after any sufficient period of 
abstinence gave us the illusion that we were back in control, whether that was a few months, or 
a few hours. We could come to feel that we’d gotten a handle on ourselves, and the thinking that 
we could moderate and enjoy our use as other people do would creep back in. 
 
After achieving some initial progress in ITAA, we sometimes looked for opportunities to step 
back from the program and do it on our own. We wanted to be, as the reading said, the 
“exception to the rule.” But hard experience has shown us that any sufficiently long period of 
time away from the program resulted in relapse—we were powerless to recover on the basis of 
self-directed willpower alone. 
 
What’s also incredible about this reading is that it was written almost 100 years ago. And yet, 
our experiences as internet and technology addicts are uncannily similar to Jim’s. This reveals 
an important truth about our addiction: the mental disease that we have is not new. Even though 
many of us were born before the smartphone even existed, internet and technology addiction is 
not a new addiction. This is the same addiction that generations of addicts have suffered, the 
same human disease that Jim had a century ago. Its object is different, but it’s the same 
sickness. And like all those millions of addicts who have recovered in AA, we need the same 
kind of help. We need to say: “I am not an exception to the rule. I do have this illness.” 
7 
 
There’s a pertinent line in the Narcotics Anonymous Step Working Guide: 
“What makes us addicts is the disease of addiction—not the drugs, not our behavior, but our 
disease. There is something within us that makes us unable to control our use of drugs.” 
 
And as the Big Book goes on to say: “I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind. I 
saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help me in those strange mental blank spots.” 
 
Now we’ll read some passages from The Scientific Evidence Regarding Internet and 
Technology Addiction on the ITAA website, as well as an excerpt from the American Psychiatric 
Association’s description of addiction. Again, if you’ve already read, please wait to read a 
second time until everyone has had a chance. We’ll take 11 volunteers to read. 
 
Tech co-host: [Screenshare reading] 
 
 
The Scientific Evidence Regarding Internet and Technology Addiction 
 
Internet and technology addiction is the compulsive and self-destructive use of the internet, 
digital media, and smart devices. Addiction develops through the repeated triggered release of 
dopamine, which over time can lead to structural changes in the brain that compromise our 
ability to focus, prioritize, regulate our mood, and relate to others. 
 
The first researcher to investigate internet and technology addiction was the psychologist 
Kimberly S. Young, who in 1998 suggested eight criteria for identifying internet addiction: 
 
1. Demonstrating preoccupation with the internet; 
 
2. Using the internet for [progressively] longer amounts of time to achieve satisfaction; 
 
3. Unsuccessful attempts to control or cut back internet use; 
 
4. Experiencing withdrawal symptoms when the internet cannot be accessed (e.g., 
restlessness, depression, irritability); 
 
5. Using the internet longer than intended; 
 
6. Jeopardized relationships, educational pursuits, or career opportunities due to internet 
use; 
 
7. Deceiving others about amounts of time spent online; 
 
8. Using internet to escape dysphoric moods or problems in life. 
 
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According to Young, endorsing five or more criteria is indicative of internet addiction. People 
who meet the diagnostic criteria for internet and technology addiction have been shown to 
experience structural changes in the brain very similar to the changes experienced in the brains 
of individuals with drug or alcohol addictions. These changes compromise our decision-making, 
reasoning, emotional processing, reward expectation, executive function, cognitive function, and 
our working memory. 
 
Of course, the effects of internet and technology addiction are not only reflected in the structure 
of our brains, but in our lives as well. Internet and technology addiction is strongly associated 
with increased impulsivity, ADHD, anxiety, and depression. In addition, it is associated with a 
higher risk of cardiometabolic disease, poorer sleep quality, increased fatigue, and symptoms of 
insomnia, all of which are correlated to a higher mortality rate. Perhaps most tragically of all, 
individuals with internet addiction have much higher rates of suicidal ideation, planning, and 
attempts—roughly three times the average. 
 
In 1935, several alcoholics gathered together for mutual aid and founded what would later 
become known as Alcoholics Anonymous, a community that has since blossomed to over one 
hundred thousand groups in 180 countries around the world with an estimated 2.1 million 
members. In the book Alcoholics Anonymous, published in 1939, the renowned doctor William 
Silkworth contributed to an introductory chapter titled “The Doctor’s Opinion.” In it, he wrote: 
 
“In late 1934 I attended a patient who, though he had been a competent businessman of good 
earning capacity, was an alcoholic of a type I had come to regard as hopeless. In the course of 
his third treatment he acquired certain ideas concerning a possible means of recovery. As part 
of his rehabilitation he commenced to present his conceptions to other alcoholics, impressing 
upon them that they must do likewise with still others. This has becomethe basis of a rapidly 
growing fellowship of these [people] and their families. This [alcoholic] and over one hundred 
others appear to have recovered. I personally know scores of cases who were of the type with 
whom other methods had failed completely. These facts appear to be of extreme medical 
importance… We feel, after many years of experience, that we have found nothing which has 
contributed more to the rehabilitation of these [alcoholics] than the altruistic movement now 
growing up among them.” 
 
A recent meta-analysis conducted by Stanford researchers evaluating 35 studies—involving the 
work of 145 scientists and the outcomes of 10,565 participants—determined that participation in 
Alcoholics Anonymous was nearly always found to be more effective than other therapies in 
achieving continuous abstinence from alcoholism. 
 
Following in this tradition, Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous applies the proven 
model of Alcoholics Anonymous to help those who are suffering from an addiction to internet 
and technology find long-term freedom from their self-destructive behaviors. We share our 
experience, strength, and hope with each other through group meetings and one-on-one 
relationships, and we work a recovery program based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics 
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Anonymous. ITAA is free and open to all who wish to join, and we welcome anyone who thinks 
they may have a problem to visit one of our meetings. 
 
—— 
 
The American Psychiatric Association’s description of addiction: 
 
People with an addiction have an intense focus on using a certain substance or behavior, to the 
point where the person’s ability to function in day to day life becomes impaired. People keep 
using the substance even when they know it is causing or will cause problems. 
 
People with an addiction may have distorted thinking and behaviors. Changes in the brain’s 
structure and function are what cause people to have intense cravings, changes in personality, 
and other behaviors. 
 
People with addictions may be aware of their problem but not be able to stop even if they 
want and try to. The addiction may cause physical and psychological problems as well as 
interpersonal problems such as with family members and friends or at work. 
 
Tech co-host: [End screenshare] 
 
 
 
 
Chair 1: 
 
Thank you. It’s essential that we recognize that we have a physiological condition—not a 
weakness of character or a moral failing. Not only are we powerless over this condition, but we 
can also see that it’s a source of suffering in our lives: it brings us frustration and demoralization; 
loss of time, relationships, and opportunities; it affects our focus, memory, and emotions; it 
causes us despair, isolation, and pain. 
 
But knowing what addiction is and how it works isn’t enough. As the Big Book says on page 39, 
“The actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop 
drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.” 
 
So the First Step is not one we only take with our thinking brain. Our conscious mind is precisely 
what’s compromised by our addiction. We have these “strange mental blank spots”. What we 
need to take the First Step is a full-bodied process of acceptance and surrender to the reality of 
our condition. We need to stop trying to out-think our addiction. We just need to give up the fight 
and give in. We need to say that we do have a problem, flat out. That’s all. 
 
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It can be hard to surrender. Though many of us may have berated ourselves as lazy or 
undisciplined, in fact addicts tend to be abnormally strong-willed. But we must let go of our will 
here. We cannot outwill a neurological condition. 
 
If we are still feeling doubt about admitting powerlessness, we can act “as if” we have an 
addiction, at least for the rest of this workshop. It certainly won’t harm us. The most we can lose 
is a little time. Meanwhile, we stand to gain a new freedom and a new happiness—to get our 
lives back. 
 
There’s a saying in the rooms: surrender and win. Before recovery, few of us could have 
imagined the richness, peace, presence, meaning, or clarity that came by truly surrendering, 
and admitting: “I cannot do this”. We can’t control our use on the basis of self-will. This truth has 
been the painful, but necessary, foundation for our recovery. 
 
Sobriety from our addictive internet and technology behaviors can sometimes feel hard to 
clearly identify or define. That’s okay. We can still surrender. Over the course of recovery, we’ll 
draw in the fog, and define clearer boundaries for healthy living. But what we need to say now in 
this Step is that the fog is there, and we are powerless over something in that fog. We do have a 
problem with internet and technology. We can also accept that we’re powerless over which 
internet and technology behaviors we do and don’t have control over. We don’t get to choose. 
 
Now we’ll take two volunteers to read from The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of 
Overeaters Anonymous. 
 
Tech co-host: [Screenshare reading]: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous, p. 6-7 
 
“In step one, we acknowledge this truth about ourselves: our current methods of managing have 
not been successful, and we need to find a new approach to life. Having acknowledged this 
truth, we are free to change and to learn. 
 
Once we have become teachable, we can give up old thought and behavior patterns which have 
failed us in the past, beginning with our attempts to control our eating and our weight. Honest 
appraisal of our experience has convinced us that we can’t handle life through self-will alone. 
First we grasp this knowledge intellectually, and then finally we come to believe it in our hearts. 
When this happens, we have taken the first step and are ready to move ahead in our program of 
recovery.” 
 
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Tech co-host: [End screenshare] 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chair 2: 
 
Thank you. 
 
Now we’d like to invite five members who have taken the First Step in ITAA to share about their 
experience, and what they have found helpful in taking this Step. Each person will have one 
minute to share. 
 
[5 experienced members share their experiences with this Step] 
Timekeeper: [Time each share for 1 minute] 
 
Thank you. We’ll write on a few questions to help bring this First Step into focus for each of us 
on a personal level. 
 
Chair: [Read each question out loud twice for the benefit of anyone dialing in by phone.] 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste each into the chat as you go through them.] 
 
1. Do I have any hesitations or reservations about admitting that I’m powerless, or that 
my addiction makes my life unmanageable? If not, what were some of the doubts I had 
in the past? Timekeeper: [2.5m, 30s warning] 
 
2. Describe my personal bottom—the most painful experience (or experiences) I’ve had 
as a result of my addiction. Timekeeper: [4m, 30s warning] 
 
3. What are some of the most damaging consequences of my addiction that occurred 
despite my best wishes or efforts to the contrary? Timekeeper: [2.5m, 30s warning] 
 
4. What are some of my bottom lines? In other words, what are the specific behaviors or 
patterns that brought me to ITAA, that when I start I can’t stop, that when I stop I can’t 
stay stopped, that I never want to have to experience again? Note that these don’t have 
to be perfectly precise—they can be rough answers. Timekeeper: [2.5m, 30s warning] 
 
5. What actions have I taken in the past to try to control, moderate, or stop my addictive 
behaviors on my own? Did any of these bring me long-term freedom? Timekeeper: 
[2.5m, 30s warning] 
 
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6. Can I look into my heart and admit that I’m powerless over internet and technology, 
and that my addiction makes my life unmanageable? If I can’t, can I act “as if” I am 
powerless just for the course of this workshop? Timekeeper: [2.5m, 30s warning] 
Before writing on this, let’s all take 30 seconds to pause and look into our hearts. 
Timekeeper: [Wait30 seconds before starting the clock to write.] 
 
— 
 
Thank you. Now we’ll split out into breakout rooms to give everyone a chance to share on at 
least one question. Each group will have 4-5 members and 10 minutes in total, so please time 
yourselves and try to keep each share to under 1 minute and 30 seconds. If you have extra 
time, you can do second shares. We will open the breakout rooms now, and you’ll see a 
1-minute warning at 9 minutes to come back to the main room. 
 
Tech co-host: [Breakout rooms: 
● Click into the breakout rooms tab and set the number of rooms so that each group has 
4-5 members. 
● To calculate the number of rooms, divide the number of participants by 5 and then 
round up to the nearest whole number. 
○ For example, 23 participants divided by 5 would be 4.6, which would round up to 
5 breakout rooms. 
● You can verify that the number you’ve entered is right by looking at the gray text at the 
bottom of the breakout rooms window, which should read: “4-5 participants per room”. 
● Use the “assign automatically” setting, and include co-hosts to breakout rooms. 
● Then click “Create”, and then click “Open all rooms”. Now participants will be able to join 
the breakout rooms. 
● Set a timer to remind yourself to close the breakout rooms after 9 minutes. Once you 
close the breakout rooms, everyone will receive a 60-second warning to come back to 
the main room.] 
 
Chair 1: 
 
Now we’d like to ask if anybody would like to take the First Step here in this meeting. Taking 
these steps in a group setting can be very powerful. There’s no pressure, and if you prefer to 
digest or meditate before taking this Step with your sharing partner, that’s also okay. But we’re 
going to open the floor now for anybody who would like to take the First Step. You can either 
say it in the words of the Step, or in your own words. We will have more time for folks after the 
meeting ends, so if you don’t have a hard stop at the top of the hour, please wait 30 seconds 
before raising your hand. 
 
Chair: [IF THERE ARE MORE THAN 80 PARTICIPANTS, read the following: 
Also, since there are so many of us here today, we’re going to split out into two breakout rooms, 
and each co-chair will lead one of them. We’ll come back to the main room when there are 3 
13 
minutes remaining in the meeting, and if needed we’ll make additional space for people to take 
Step One in the aftermeeting.] 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
Step One: We admitted we were powerless over internet and technology—that our lives had 
become unmanageable. 
— 
 
Chair: [Members take Step One until there are 3 minutes left in the meeting. If not everyone has 
gotten to go, let folks know that there will be more time after the meeting for people to take the 
Step] 
 
Chair 2: 
 
Thank you all so much. 
 
Before we close, we’d like to repeat the practices we suggested last session: 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
 
Suggested workshop commitments: 
 
1. Attend 90 meetings in 90 days (these workshop meetings count) 
2. Make 90 phone calls to other ITAA members in 90 days. This can include other 
members in this workshop 
3. One day at a time, abstain from all bottom lines—the specific compulsive behaviors 
that brought us to ITAA. 
4. Practice observing and letting go of unnecessary internet and technology use. 
 
— 
 
Again, these are just suggestions, not requirements. They are intended to give you a strong and 
stable foundation during the workshop, and to minimize the difficulties of withdrawal and early 
sobriety. You are completely free to use them, adjust them, or set them aside. The session after 
next we’ll have a meeting fully dedicated to deepening our personal understanding of sobriety. 
 
We hope you have been able to begin connecting with sharing partners or groups and 
scheduling calls. As a reminder, you can find the contact list, Zoom meeting details, group 
sponsors, and 7th Tradition contributions at “open path step workshop dot org.” 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
https://openpathstepworkshop.org/ 
— 
 
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https://openpathstepworkshop.org/
Thank you everyone for this beautiful meeting. We will now close the meeting, following which 
we can make time for additional questions and sharing. 
 
Let’s close with the serenity prayer in the “I” form. Feel free to unmute and join us. 
 
Tech co-host: [Copy/paste into the chat:] 
 
Higher Power, Grant me The Serenity 
to Accept the things I cannot Change, 
the Courage to Change the things I Can, 
and the Wisdom to Know the Difference. 
— 
 
Let us hug each other. To hug one another, just say “hugs” out loud. 
 
Chair: [End meeting] 
 
Thank you! 
 
Chair: [Pause to allow others to say thank you if they want to, etc.] 
 
As a reminder, we’ll be meeting next on [DAY OF WEEK], and the full schedule can be found at 
openpathstepworkshop.org. 
 
Before we move on, if there is anyone who is open to outreach calls or is looking for a sharing 
partner, please put your info into the chat, and we encourage you to reach out to others who are 
putting info into the chat and who are in the outreach list. 
 
Now let’s take a 5-minute timed screen break, and then we’ll move on to shares and questions. 
During this time, you might stretch, get some water, or glance at the additional readings and 
questions at the bottom of the meeting script. Timekeeper, are you available to time us? 
 
Timekeeper: [5-minute timed screen break] 
 
Before we go into additional shares or questions, was there anyone else who wanted to take 
Step One here with the group? 
 
[Any additional members take Step One] 
 
Now we can move into additional shares or questions. Let’s cap each share at 2:30 minutes, 
with a 30-second warning. If a question is asked, we’ll allow for 2-3 responses for up to 1 minute 
each. Timekeeper, are you available to stay during the aftermeeting? 
 
 
15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Additional reading for Step One: 
Chapter 3 in the Big Book of AA (37-43) 
(If you are interested in purchasing a full, gender-neutral translation of the Big Book, we 
recommend A Simple Program) 
 
The Doctor’s Opinion: The Scientific Evidence Regarding Internet and Technology Addiction 
 
 
Optional additional questions for deeper writing: 
 
1. We can write a 1-2 page “Step One inventory” describing the story of our addiction: 
when it started, how it changed over time, and how it is now. Strongly recommended. 
2. Have I ever experienced suffering as a result of my internet and technology use? 
3. Do I have any grief surrounding the prospective loss of my addiction? What grief do I 
have? 
4. Do I have any lingering reservations about admitting powerlessness? Instead of trying to 
respond to these reservations with “no but”, am I able to say “yes and” to them? In other 
words, can I say “Yes, that may be true, and I also experience powerlessness and 
unmanageability”? 
5. What similarities or differences do I see between my own addictive use and that of Jim’s 
in Chapter 3 of the Big Book? What trivial rationalizations have I used to justify my 
addiction? 
6. What similarities or differences do I see between my own addiction and that detailed in 
the medical descriptions above? 
7. Has my technology use increased in times of stress or strong negative emotions? What 
are some examples? 
8. What does it feel like when my tech use is out of control? What body sensations and 
emotions do I experience? 
9. When I am around other people that I value, do I find myself absorbed in my devices or 
in thoughts of my internet and technology use, unable to be present? What are some 
examples of this? 
10. What were instances in which my tech use had stopped being enjoyable or rewarding 
but I was unable to stop? 
11. How have I let my physical hygiene or health suffer because of my addiction? 
12. How have I let my career or future suffer because of my addiction? 
13. How have I let my relationships suffer because of my addiction?14. How have I blamed other people for my behavior? 
15. How have I compared my addiction with others' addictions? Do I think my situation is 
either "not bad enough" or “beyond help”? 
16. What things have I done to maintain my addiction that went completely against all my 
beliefs and values? 
17. How does my personality change when I'm acting out on my addiction? 
18. Do I lie to or manipulate other people to maintain my addiction? How? 
17 
https://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/en_bigbook_chapt3.pdf
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NCL1I7X/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
https://internetaddictsanonymous.org/the-doctors-opinion/
19. Did I act out on my addiction to change or suppress my feelings? What was I trying to 
change or suppress? 
20. Do I think I can still associate with the people and communities connected with my 
addiction? Do I think it's wise to keep apps, devices, or paraphernalia around, just to 
"remind myself" or test my recovery? If so, why? 
21. Do I think that with some amount of clean time, or with different life circumstances, I'd be 
able to control my use, or have the power to choose which behaviors I can and cannot 
control? 
22. Do I accept that I may never regain control, even after a long period of abstinence? 
23. What would my life be like if I surrendered completely? 
24. Can I continue my recovery without complete surrender? 
25. If I've been thinking about using or acting out on my addiction in some way, have I 
shared it with my sponsor or told anyone else? 
26. Am I willing to follow my sponsor's direction? 
27. Am I willing to go to meetings regularly? 
28. Am I willing to give recovery my best effort? In what ways? 
29. Have I made peace with the fact that I'm an addict? 
30. Have I made peace with the things I'll have to do to stay clean? 
31. How is acceptance of my illness necessary for my continued recovery? 
 
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