ITAA Sample Meeting Agenda

Check In	“Are there any announcements before the meeting begins?”
Welcome	“Welcome everyone to the ______________ (date) open meeting of the Internet Addiction Anonymous (ITAA) Recovery group.”
Announcement	“Please make sure your cell phones, pagers or any other device is set to silent or turned off.”
Meeting	“____________” will now read the “Preamble”
	“ ___________” will now read “How it Works”
	“ ___________” will now read the “12 Traditions”
	“ ___________” will now read the “Promises”
Visitors	“Do we have any visitors?” If so, ask “Do you feel comfortable sharing your first name?”
Outline	Read the “Open discussion outline”
Topic/Discussion	“Do we have any suggestions for a discussion topic?” If not, present your own, invite a speaker, or study the steps.
Basket	Every ITAA group is required to be self sufficient, if you are able to make a donation, it is appreciated. (Pass the no fees or dues basket).
Chips	“ ___________” will now present the TOKENS for length of sobriety. Voluntary.
Anonymity Statement	“Who you see here, what you hear here, is a TRUST. Let it stay here.”
Closing	Serenity Prayer   God, 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.

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PREAMBLE

“INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION ANONYMOUS (ITAA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from internet and technology addiction. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop the excessive use of technology and the internet. There are no dues or fees for ITAA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. ITAA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to find balance and help other internet and technology users achieve a balanced lifestyle.” (Adapted and modified; based on the A.A organization Preamble.)

HOW IT WORKS

12 Steps and Principles for Internet and Technology Addiction Anonymous

These twelve steps and principles are guidelines for members of Internet and Technology Addiction Anonymous (ITAA) to live by. We can recognize and overcome living issues by using the twelve steps and/or principles. If you choose to embrace these steps and principles into your life, it will get better, no matter what you are having a problem with.

1. HONESTY. Admit that you, or yourself, are powerless to overcome your addictions and that your life has become unmanageable.
2. HOPE. Come to believe that the power greater than ourselves can restore you to health.
3. TRUST: Decide to turn your will and our life over to the care of your higher power as you understand it.
4. TRUTH: Make a searching and fearless written moral inventory of yourself.
5. INTEGRITY: Admit to yourself, to a higher power, and another human being the exact nature of your wrongs.
6. CHANGE OF HEART: Become entirely ready to have a higher power remove all your character defects.
7. HUMILITY: Humbly ask a higher power to remove your shortcomings.
8. BROTHERLY LOVE: Make a written list of all persons you have harmed and become willing to make restitution to them.
9. RESTITUTION AND RECONCILIATION: Wherever possible, make direct restitution to all persons you have harmed, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. ACCOUNTABILITY: Continue to take personal inventory, and when you are wrong promptly admit it.
11. PERSEVERANCE: Continue to take personal inventory and when we are wrong, promptly admit it.
12. SERVICE AND SPIRITUALITY: Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, share this message with others who excessively use technology and practice these principles in all you do.

Note: The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been adapted for Internet Addiction.  Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. (“A.A.W.S.”). A.A. is not affiliated with Internet Addiction Anonymous as A.A. is a program of recovery from alcoholism only.

12 TRADITIONS OF ITAA

We keep what we have only with vigilance, and just as freedom for the individual comes from the Twelve Steps, so freedom frot he group springs from our traditions. As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that would tear us apart, all will be well.

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on ITAA unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving higher power as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop excessive use.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or ITAA as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry the message to the addict who still suffers.

6. An ITAA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the NA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, or prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every ITAA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. Internet and Technology Addiction Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9. ITAA as such, ought never be organized, but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. Internet and Technology Addiction Anonymous (ITAA) has no opinion on outside issues; hence the ITAA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11. 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.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

The Promises 

“If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half way through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

“Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.”   From Chapter Six of “The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.”