AA in Cyberspace  (Future) II

Dennis M
Presented July 1, 2000

My name is Dennis and I’m an alcoholic. I’m also known as Aliden@***.*** and I’m a member of the Lamplighters group of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are an email group and we meet in cyberspace.

Booze brought me to my knees in the summer of 1990. My life had gone from the executive suite to a park bench. Through a series of events centered around beer, cheap wine and vodka, the law, a hospital and some people who still cared about me – the kinds of things with which many of you can identify, I found myself in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous.

I didn’t get my start in cyberspace. I’m not sure I could’ve if I’d had the chance.  I shook so bad I had trouble dialing a phone let alone type on a keyboard.

After a stint at a drunk farm up in Kent, Connecticut where I got my introduction to AA, I returned to New York city where I joined the Gun Hill group of the Bronx.  It’s been my home group ever since. Gun Hill’s doors have been open for drunks like me since November 1947 and I feel that I have an obligation to help keep those doors open for the next drunk.

It’s where I got a sponsor who introduced me to the twelve steps and where I did service and still do.  I became active in general services first as a GSR, then as a DCM and currently serve on our local Area Committee.  My service work has helped me build a solid foundation in our twelve traditions.  And my involvement in AA online has not diminished my commitment to my regular AA meetings one bit either.

In December 1995, after five years in sobriety, Alice and I got a new computer and this one had a modem. That first night connecting to the internet was like magic. It was awesome. One of the first things we did the first time we logged on was to search on “Alcoholics Anonymous.”

Something wonderful happened. We saw all these A.A. kinds of things listed and then there was also this listing for the Lamplighters web page. We were attracted to the group and skeptical that it could really be A.A. Well….we inquired about membership and were warmly greeted by someone from Finland. I’ve been a member of the Lamplighters group of Alcoholics Anonymous ever since.

Through Lamplighters I’ve made many friends from all around the world and it has shown me first hand that groups need not be constrained by geographical boundaries and that the language of the heart can be spoken in cyberspace. 

A friend of Bill’s once described the AA Grapevine as a “’magic carpet’ which could instantly transport every reader to countless cities and hamlets and to those still lonesome outposts on distant shores where our Society would one day flourish.” 

For me, this is what AA online has done. It has made me feel like a true member of an international fellowship not just once every five years but every single day.

 What’s the next thing that happens when we join Alcoholics Anonymous groups?  For me, it is service.  After all, A.A. is all about alcoholics in action.  In Lamplighters there are scores of service positions - some traditional, like greeters - to some that are technical, like Webmasters and listkeepers.  We also have a Chair, a Secretary, a Treasurer, an Intergroup Rep., a GSR, a Birthday committee and scores of others.  There’s something for just about anyone who is willing to serve.

 So besides the Topic, Step and Traditions meetings, we’ve been involved in starting a Lamp meeting on the Twelve Concepts for World Service and chaired an ad hoc committee to pull together a group conscience document we then called the Netiquette. 

 This document is a framework which describes the group, it’s guiding principles and how the group conducts itself online, from meeting formats to elections to voting procedures.  It was adopted by using traditional AA methods for developing an informed group conscience – thorough discussion before voting, listening carefully to the minority opinion and striving for substantial unanimity on all important issues.  Most importantly, Rule #62 applied throughout.

 But the real charge for me these last few years in Lamplighters has been working on the 12th step committee.  Our focus is on those who come to us still drinking, pretty early in sobriety or returning from a relapse and the occasional member struggling to stay away from a drink or going through a particularly rough time.

 12th step work has always been one of the most satisfying activities that AA has enabled me to do and is great insurance against the next first drink.

 In cyberspace we see a good number of drunks looking for help for the first time. I believe we’ll see them in ever-increasing numbers.  We see them coming back from relapse; we see them finding AA at a time and in a place where you can feel the desperation and share your hope just as we do f2f.  The language of the heart is shared with drunks every day in thousands of ways all across cyberspace.  And … we get a chance to see people grow in sobriety just like we do in f2f meetings.

 One thing that we consistently emphasize to newcomers is that the best place to get sober for most of us who do this work is in f2f groups where there is a better chance to be seen and heard and to get the maximum help that AA has to offer. 

 But not everyone can nor wants to attend f2f.  We carry the message and not the drunk in cyberspace, too.  Many of those who do attend f2f meetings find that AA online remains a wonderful addition to their sobriety.  And for some, cyberspace is their only real connection to AA.

 Now, let me set the stage for talking about a vision for our future by talking just a little about our past and the role that communications technology has already played in our history.

 Alcoholics Anonymous got started with one alcoholic talking to another.  On anvils of experience, we hammered out certain principles and methods that worked best.  And technology has always played a key role.  We learned pretty early in our history that AA just couldn’t always depend on one alcoholic being physically present to carry the message.

 It strikes me as ironic to note that the first use of technology to carry the message in a big way was the Big Book itself.  The “Book project” as it was called by Bill W. back then, was not all that popular in the beginning. 

 Some argued that the AA message should not be transmitted through the printed word. They said it took one alcoholic talking to another – f2f – for recovery to happen.  Bill D., A.A. #3, even refused to have his story included in the first edition he felt so strongly against the book project. 

 During the period of early growth and development of our fellowship, we saw much use of mail (snail mail) correspondence.  And “telephone therapy” has always been encouraged and is mentioned in our literature.  In the 1940’s we saw the birth of another powerful example of an application of media “technology” via A.A.’s “Meeting in Print” – the A.A. Grapevine magazine. 

 Of interest, The Grapevine has established its own presence in cyberspace via a web page and has been steadily expanding its use of this powerful communications tool to help get the magazine and its stories out to the fellowship.

 Continuing over the years, we’ve seen A.A.’s meeting via correspondence (Loners/Internationalists), ham radio, ship-to-shore and even ship-to-ship. The guiding principle of anonymity has always tempered our use of radio and television media but we have been there also.

 One thing has always been evident.  Just as it says in the Big Book, as we sober up a fellowship will spring up around us.  Whatever will help make that happen is merely incidental to the process of recovery.  The traditions have always guided us and kept us together.

 When reflecting on these kinds of things back in 1960, Bill W. said (in a GV article): "Nothing matters more to Alcoholics Anonymous future welfare than the manner in which we use the colossus of modern communication. Used unselfishly and well, it can produce results surpassing our present imagination."  How prescient these words seem when we consider where we are today.

 Now we have the phenomenon of cyberspace – the internet – along with great improvements in both communications technology and its ease of use and general availability. 

 Is all this new?  Not as much as you might think.  AA’s were already meeting on Bulletin Boards back in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s.  At the 1995 International Convention in San Diego we had the Living Cyber Suite and its aftermath propelled tremendous growth in groups online and the beginning of a service structure to serve the rapidly growing online fellowship.

 And let’s not forget the shot-in-the-arm given by the May 1996 Grapevine issue with a special feature about AA online.

  One thing is for sure. Alcoholics reach out and find each other.  We have seen the formation of new cyber-communities no longer hindered by geographical boundaries.  And have you noticed that when we meet online we can’t wait to meet f2f and when we make new friends f2f we soon thereafter exchange email addresses?

 As we form groups and attract newcomers it leads to the need for a single coordinating point for some services. Thus, we have an Online Intergroup – known as OIAA - which is international in scope and currently serves well over a hundred online groups encompassing thousands of AA members.  And very recently we’ve also seen the development of the first national online Intergroup serving the Australian online groups.

 Meanwhile, cyberspace isn’t only used by cyber-groups.  In the f2f world – while this swelter of A.A. growth and evolution is taking place in cyberspace, we have our existing f2f communities and service structures – the Intergroups, Central Offices, general service districts and areas and even General Service Offices here and abroad reaching into cyberspace and beginning to stake out domains and methods for providing public information and extending services.  Witness the many web sites of local Intergroups and general service districts and areas.

 The use of email alone has helped the effectiveness of many general service areas doing committee work and has even created opportunities for service where f2f might be difficult or impossible. I have one friend in New York who is a part-time resident of Hawaii and does service for his Hawaiian committee over the internet while he is in New York.

One thing ultimately motivates all of this activity:  to reach and help the sick and suffering alcoholic who wants our help.  But a casual observer of all this activity might wonder if there isn’t a lot of wasted overlap and needless confusion in all of this.

 Where is all this activity going?

 Being an alcoholic, and having some experience in both f2f  and cyberspace – I do have a few ideas and opinions – let me share some with you.

 I see cyberspace continuing to evolve as an increasingly robust and user-friendly multi-media environment.  It’s here to stay and we will continue to learn to use this colossus of communications to help alcoholics. 

 We will learn that there aren’t two forms of AA – f2f and online.  There is one Alcoholics Anonymous and we will become united in our efforts to help alcoholics.  This will not happen without pain and frustration. For example, I believe we need to protect our literature copyrights and make certain that, in so doing, we maintain the integrity of the AA message throughout our fellowship.

 Most geographically-based service structures – will use cyberspace – just like my home area Southeastern New York (Area 49) is beginning to with its new web page – in order to provide area service and improve communications within the area community.

 In the arena of providing meeting information online, we will see both technology and determination cooperate to make meeting information available anywhere anytime; and to facilitate contact with another alcoholic anytime, anywhere.

 For example, a trembling drunk – today we might call him “the man on the web” instead of “the man on the bed” – reaches out for help in cyberspace. How he does that – who cares! He does it. It’s happening today.   It will continue to occur with greater frequency as more and more people have access to cyberspace.

 His drinking is out of control – again.  His life is miserable; his job is on the line.  He wants help but he’s afraid to walk into a meeting. 

 Well, this drunk finds the Online Intergroup and then he finds a group like Lamplighters.  We have a 12th step committee and we share with him.  We share experience, strength and hope and we encourage him.  And he becomes willing to talk to someone close to home.  We might even have a member who lives there or we might arrange a 12th step call from his local AA Intergroup by communicating via cyberspace. 

 In other words, it needn’t be “either cyberspace” or “f2f only.”   I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for cooperation between cyberspace and the f2f world in practicing our 12th step.

 I’d like to digress a moment to share a personal experience with the 12th step in cyberspace.

 A young man living in New York reached out to Lamplighters in the winter of 1998. I was the 12th step contact since I live in New York. He was from Sweden and in New York as a post-doctoral student in Computer science.  His drinking had escalated out of control and he had gotten into some trouble and was very, very sick.

 His name was Kristofer and he wanted help. He was already computer literate and reaching out in cyberspace for him was easier than making a telephone call.  He said he wouldn’t go to a regular meeting because of his language difficulty.  It was really fear.  The truth is that he felt more anonymous on the internet. 

This was Thursday.  I emailed a friend in Lamplighters who I knew was flying into New York to visit GSO on Friday and asked if he could pick up some Swedish literature.  I told him I’d meet him in front of an AA group in lower Manhattan where we sometimes would meet when he came into town.  

 I then offered to meet with the young Swede at that location and promised that I would have some AA literature in Swedish.  Kristofer wrote back that he was too scared to meet me and couldn’t commit.

 I wrote and told him I’d be there anyway and described myself and said I’d wait and if he didn’t show up, then he could give me a mailing address and I’d mail him the literature.

 Well, my Lamplighters friend, Jim, arrived and apologized for only being able to obtain a Swedish Big Book at GSO. Five minutes later Kristofer walked up to me and we shook hands and I handed him the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous in his mother tongue.

 I invited him into the meeting for a cup of coffee.  It was a cold night and he ventured into his first AA meeting.  He remarked that we all looked pretty “normal.”  Kristofer stayed for that meeting and a couple of days later had read the Big Book and wanted to meet again and talk about it.  He had read the book thoroughly!

 Kristofer decided he was only a potential alcoholic and could probably drink a while longer and maybe even control it.  I said “Go right ahead!”  He was surprised I didn’t lecture him nor criticize his decision.  I told him alcohol would be our best advocate and, besides, maybe he would be one of the lucky ones and learn to drink safely.

 A year or so later Kristofer emailed me to say that his drinking had gone out of control again after he got a good job and moved back to Sweden.  He said that he’d dug out “that book you gave me” and he and another drinking buddy were staying sober reading it together.  He thanked me for helping him to understand.

 To me, this is a wonderful example of how cyberspace and the f2f world of AA can combine to do 12th step work.  I see great potential in the use of cyberspace to more effectively see that “whenever anyone, anywhere reaches out for help, the hand of Alcoholics Anonymous will be there.”

 Now, a little something should be said about what may become a very special focus of AA in cyberspace in the not-to-distant future.  It is the area we call Special Needs.

 For some people with special needs like the deaf, the visually impaired and blind (yes, there’s even special software – increasingly useful – for the sightless), the disabled, the homebound and for geographically isolated alcoholics, cyberspace offers all of these the chance of forming new AA meeting communities or for just melding with existing AA. 

 Cyberspace will be increasingly available to those who have difficulty reading – using special software - and there is tremendous promise in the use of translation software, which will lessen the difficulty of carrying the AA message across language barriers and will allow full participation for any member regardless of any and all speech difficulties.

 And how we might ask will all of these cyber-groups be able to participate in the collective conscience of AA?  What is this all about?

 Most A.A.’s know we have 12 Traditions and 12 Concepts that guide our groups and general service structures.  Well, we have AA groups meeting online practicing these same principles.  But most online groups – which have members from all over the world - don’t fit into any of the present service structures because they’re organized within geographical boundaries. 

 Online groups are not able to effectively participate in any Conference process today.  They effectively lack a voice in AA as a whole.   I believe this will change in the coming years.

 Increasingly, the OIAA, the Online Intergroup, is finding itself as the service arm for groups meeting in cyberspace.  It is exciting to me to see the OIAA – in many respects still in its infancy – assuming a key service role in cyberspace.  Its member groups include members with energy and creativity in utilizing the full power of this medium and applying their talents to helping drunks.  I believe this will be the place where online AA groups will have a chance to voice their conscience on matter affecting AA as a whole.

 I believe the day will come when we will see participation of the OIAA or something like it carrying the conscience of the online AA groups into the World Service Meeting  - the biennial get-together of GSO’s from all around the world to discuss matters of unity and mutual concern. 

 This will not happen overnight but I believe it will evolve if we attend to our AA spiritual business – carrying the message to the sick and suffering alcoholic whenever and wherever we may be of use in the new reality of cyberspace.  If we focus our energies on doing the service, the rest will take care of itself.  We need to give time, time as we tell newcomers.

 As the cyber-groups of AA learn how to apply the principles we so cherish as a society – unity through reliance on a Higher Power, inclusivity without losing sight of our singleness of purpose, self-support and non-affiliation, avoidance of outside controversy and, most essentially - how to protect and preserve the anonymity of our individual members – we want to add our collective voice to those in the world around us.  In other words, we want a way to relate to Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole.

 What is likely to happen, in my opinion, is that a service structure will continue to evolve from what we have today.  The OIAA is the present “hub” of AA service for the online fellowship and is well positioned to undertake new and growing services on behalf of the online groups.

 Additional services will grow around Special Needs, Public Information to Professional Communities which meet in cyberspace; and the coordination between Treatment Centers and even Correctional Facilities using cyber-links to the online community to ease the transition back into one’s home community are increasingly likely.

 We might ask: “Is this really going to happen?” I believe the answer is, as usual, right before us in our literature.

 In an article in the November 1960 Grapevine entitled “Freedom under God – the Choice is Ours” Bill W. said:

 “We now entrust you of AA’s distant reaches – you who so well symbolize the unique and loving communication that is ours in this universal Fellowship – to carry this message to fellow members everywhere; and most especially to all those others who still know not, and who, God willing, may soon issue out of their darkness into light.”

 And in our Big Book – there is a chapter entitled “A Vision For You.”  As usual  Bill  said it best when answering the question of whether and how we will have contact with each other:

 “We cannot be sure.  God will determine that, so you must remember that your real reliance is upon Him.  He will show you how to create the fellowship you crave…May God bless you and keep you – until then.”

 Thank you.
 Dennis M.

July 1,2000