This stands in stark contrast to AA in the ‘40s, arguably our most successful period. They viewed the Big Book as only a starting point, and continued to brainstorm and experiment on how to grow more effective in transmitting our solution. It was this approach that produced innovations such as beginners’ meetings. It is this same approach that will ensure AA’s survival. Our recovery, both personally and collectively, depends on spiritual progress – we are either moving towards or away from a drink.

When I heard about a general service panel discussion on “Anonymity in the Digital Age,” it struck me as exactly the type of forum we need. I decided to do my part in restoring our predecessors’ experimental spirit by anonymously live tweeting the event. The experiment was to help illuminate the intersection between social media, our primary purpose, and anonymity.

Immediately questions were raised that I never had to consider before. I wanted to make sure I could not be mistaken as an official AA account, so what should my handle be? my profile picture? my bio? I opted for @AnonymousAlki, a picture devoid of the AA name or symbols or founders’ images, and the following bio: “A member of AA who doesn’t represent AA. Exploring the intersection between anonymity and making sure AA’s available in the digital age.” (Here’s the runner-up candidate for profile pic.) If I follow someone, does that threaten their anonymity? Which hashtags should I follow? Would it be a bad idea to follow #addiction as opposed to just #alcoholism? I ended up following #alcoholism, #alcoholicsanonymous, #sobriety, #recovery, and #AA, and tweeted using #AA (so folks could follow my tweets without following me), and several tweeps (people) who were either anonymous AAs like me or who had already broken their anonymity publicly on Twitter (tsk, tsk). Should I use my personal email address to sign up? (Turned out not to be an option because it’s already associated with my Twitter account.) I wound up creating AnonymousAlki@gmail.com instead.

When I arrived the lights were off, so I could only see by the glow of a big TV. It was looping the first few seconds of a young people’s video in French, and the crowd, maybe numbering eighty mostly older members (forties, fifties and up), was growing predictably restless. For me it was a divine glitch, as I had time to “[launch] on the world tide of alcoholism” the first few tweets explaining my efforts and setting the scene (p 153). I also posted the details of my experiment to a few local AA Facebook (private) groups. A home group member ended up creating an anonymous account as well and following along.

Our brusque MC introduced the two panelists, both who served at the SENY area level. My hopes of the event being pluralistic and balanced were quickly dashed. So began the Reefer madness of social media. There was passing mention a few times about the potential benefits – although this idea was kept completely abstract except for a tentative plug for online meetings – but it always seemed to serve as a preface to a much longer litany of detailed concerns and an unmanageable privacy to-do list. AA-related emails, for example, should be written in coded language only a member could recognize. Their message was clear: ‘Lock it down and scale back.’ (See my live tweets on May 4th for a play-by-play.)

I get that AA is a conservative organization – we are wary of change because we have something that works well (increasingly debatable). So I expected this to be a bit ruckus, but not this bad. Presumably discussion was to follow though, and everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion (hopefully grounded in evidence).

The MC reclaimed the mic: “Do not offer any opinions or discussion. Just stick to direct questions of the panelists.” So much for creating a space for all-too-rare dialogue. I wound up asking if I could share a concern instead of asking a question. To his credit, the MC gave me the go-ahead and the crowd offered approving nods.

“As someone who takes their anonymity very seriously and works professionally with social media, I’ve put some thought into this. I think how the panel is framed is problematic. Instead of something neutral – like ‘AA in the Digital Age’ – we are focusing on the negatives and cultivating a defensiveness. I think we’d be much better off focusing on how to creatively preserve the spirit of the traditions while still leveraging social media to carry the message. Although you guys mentioned the benefits, it seemed to me to be imbalanced.”

One of the panelists responded: “Anonymity breaking is happening a lot. We need to make that stop before we can explore responsible use.”

I didn’t shoot my hand up because I didn’t want to make it a back-n-forth and I wanted to give other people a chance to speak. After a few questions and one angry rant about using a meeting list and not a phone, it was time for the traditions play.

I approached the panelist afterward to thank her and we wound up continuing the exchange. I said, “Your answer reminded me a lot, ironically, of how schools advise their students regarding alcohol. ‘Don’t ever drink! It’s dangerous!’ Yet everyone, including those preaching abstinence, know that many of the kids are going to drink. They would be better off advocating responsible use so they would have a positive impact instead of none at all. In the same way, alcoholics are going to be online and social no matter what’s said. Instead of telling them to lock it down, which they’ll ignore, why not try to provide some real guidance?”

I also added, “I don’t mean any offense, but you referenced ‘trinkets’ and ‘buttons’ in your talk. That leads me to believe that you probably don’t have much experience with new media. It seems to me to be inconsistent with AA’s principle of speaking within our own range of experience. We don’t put a newcomer in front of the room to tell us about the steps – shouldn’t AAs who are well-versed in these technologies be rounding out the panel?”

She said, “I don’t have an answer for any of this because it’s true: I only have very little experience.” Although she was super nice and well-meaning, it didn’t seem as if it clicked that a solution to this would be to actively track down qualified AAs. I got the impression that she felt there wasn’t much room for this since, for whatever reason, it was her responsibility to do it given her service position.

—–

I only break my anonymity in two specific instances:

1) If I have become very close to someone, and it makes sense to tell them because dodging it is, well, dodgy.

2) If my God-consciousness suggests that it might be helpful to whomever I’m speaking with.

I also believe in the value of publicness, a concept championed by one of my intellectual heroes, Jeff Jarvis. I use Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Pinterest, Google+, Yelp, Quora, and LinkedIn.

So where does the intersection lie? No one – and I mean no one inside or outside of AA – has definitive answers regarding digital ethics. It took a hundred years for humanity to figure out how to use the printing press. Relatively speaking, the Internet is brand new! None of us can fully comprehend what’s happening and where all this is headed, and by connecting so many people together, new breakthroughs are constantly being made.

Accordingly, I don’t pretend to have anything more than a good conversation starter, but it’s for a conversation that needs to happen. Alcohol is neither good nor bad – or at least that’s AA’s position by way of not having a position (Tradition 10). “Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than his body (p 23).” Translation: it ain’t alcohol, people – it’s us. I think we need to treat social media (isn’t all media social?) similarly. It’s a neutral tool, and whether it’s used constructively or destructively is in our hands. But just as we’re moving either towards or away from a drink – a saying I’m down with – we’re either moving towards or away from collectively carrying out our primary purpose. This is an unavoidable challenge/opportunity.

Let’s face it, seize it, embrace it, pray on it, talk about it, experiment. After all, the Traditions – which are arguably AA’s main contribution to the process of recovery which predates our fellowship – were borne out of trial and error. Again from the Big Book:

“Suppose we fall short of this chosen ideal and stumble? Does this mean we are going to get drunk? Some people tell us so. But this is only a half-truth. It depends on us and our motives. If we are sorry for what we have done, and have the honest desire to let God take us to better things, we believe we will be forgiven and will have learned our lesson. (p 70)”

Here the text is referring to our “sex ideal,” but I think we can all agree it applies across the board. So where do we begin this adventure?

There are plenty of ways to preserve anonymity online when needed. Those of us who take our commitment to anonymity seriously are only a Google search away from answers to whatever privacy concerns we have. We don’t need to live in perpetual fear of having our cover blown. Instead, we can withhold information concerning AA membership in public spheres, and disclose it when it would be helpful and when we can selectively choose our audience. Facebook, Twitter, and other tools can be extremely positive and increasingly important ways to live out our responsibility statement: “When anyone, anywhere [including online?!], reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to always be there. And for that: I am responsible.”

The alternative is to cede online spaces to AA members who don’t know about or respect the traditions, and AA’s critics. It will be very hard indeed for someone to find the hand of AA under such conditions.

So where could we take this?

• Live tweeting and blogging events so those AAs who can’t make it can still follow along.

• Creating a PI commitment where several people keep up with an official Twitter handle, responding to inquiries and posting information (meeting list changes, events, etc). One of the things I discovered searching #alcoholism is there are a ton of people who describe the serious consequences of their heavy drinking with a degree of hopelessness in their tone. I’m sure exceedingly few of these people are ready to hear our message (read for yourself), but it certainly highlights the potential for reaching the still sick and suffering alcoholic.

• How ‘bout live tweeting and blogging to bring greater transparency to the otherwise behind-closed-doors-until-after General Service Conference, where about 150 people are annually deciding on issues affecting all of AA within the US and Canada? This would also increase interest and engagement in this level of service.

• We could make every AA book available digitally.

• We could develop an app that Intergroups could use to have a stronger mobile presence (meeting locator, convenient “call” button, self-diagnostic questionnaire, etc).

• Let’s dedicate financial resources and brainpower toward improving NYC Intergroup’s website instead of stressing social media fears. Someone looking for a meeting for the first time ever had to contact me through a friend because he could not make sense of the (previous version of the) Queens Intergroup website – that extra obstacle might have been just enough to sap his motivation. (Tellingly, the panelist said, “AA.org is designed for the professional community, doctors, etc. because no one is going to look up a website drunk.”)

I’m very excited to see how we respond to these developments. Thanks to the ubiquity of computing and the collapse of the costs to informal collaboration, individual AAs can now accomplish so much more on their own or in small groups. Whether or not the service structure rallies around this challenge, I’m sure we will see a lot of AAs bringing the traditions to life in our digital age. Email blog@nycypaa.org to share your ideas (or anything else).

View their flier or for more information, contact Charlene B. at (917) 865-9551 or email bcsad2013@gmail.com.

]]> http://www.nycypaa.org/2013/02/fellowship-central-park-picnic-meeting-and-boat-party/feed/ 0 http://www.nycypaa.org/2013/02/eacypaa-pre-registration-is-available/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=eacypaa-pre-registration-is-available http://www.nycypaa.org/2013/02/eacypaa-pre-registration-is-available/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:32:00 +0000 admin http://www.nycypaa.org/?p=768 What: 11th Annual Eastern Area Convention of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous (EACYPAA)
When: Friday, April 26th through Sunday April 28th
Where: Atlanta, Georgia
Hotel: Atlanta Marriott Northwest at Galleria, 200 Interstate North Parkway SE, Atlanta, GA, 30339
Rates: $80.00 per night (ask for EACYPAA rate; cut costs by getting shared rooms with your friends!)
Reservations can be made by contacting the Marriott directly: Marriott reservations at 1 (800) 228-9290 or (770) 952-7900. Be sure to reference EACYPAA for the group room rate.
Travel Logistics: The best airport to use is the Atlanta International Airport.  The hotel does NOT provide a shuttle from the hotel but DOES recommend A&M Limo (Windy Hill Airport Shuttle), which is $30 one-way from airport to hotel (approximately $25 cheaper than a taxi). Reservations are required for this service and are secured by calling (770) 955-4565.
Flights: Contact Airlines directly to ask about Group Rates. Delta, United, AirTrans and American Airlines offer numerous direct flights between NYC and ATL and might have special offers going on. Flights should be in the $200 range.
For More Info: Contact NYCYPAA committee members and also check out EACYPAA’s website at http://eacypaa.org/

Check out the EACYPAA Flyer and Pre Registration Form!

I’ve been in spaces where there was no light,
where the air was thin and my lungs felt tight,
when my veins were clogged,
shriveled up at night,
my thoughts so black,
that my heart failed to fight,
but backed into the corner and down on my knees,
something occurred, a strong swift breeze,
adversity in our face stands us up like the trees,
God forgive me for my sins,
I didn’t mean to commit these.
And here we return, back into the race,
some stumble and fall flat on their face,
but our arms keep pushing because we’re in human space,
the love is so strong, and the hate we can taste,
envy and lust, just a couple of these,
I suffer so bad, I can rip down those trees,
acceptance and love for me is the way,
I stumble and fall, but boy do I pray,
some hurt me so bad, deep in my heart,
I try to forgive because I am a part
of the problems we suffer, day in and day out,
I try to stay strong, I often do pout,
but to know there’s a God, I surely know this,
my struggles half over, but sometimes I’m pissed,
to rely on me, its just not the way,
to find your own God, for this I do pray,
then struggles are easy, to me their just lesson,
to love and forgive, yes they are just blessings,
its not just a cop-out, this is my confession.

Register at the ICYPAA website: http://www.icypcaa.org

Arizona Biltmore website: http://www.arizonabiltmore.com/

Phoenix host committee website: http://55th.icypaa.org/