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Very Personal Computing
Alcoholics
log on
Alice
hadn't taken a drink in four months. Even so, she was afraid
to venture out at night for fear that the temptations of
an active social life might pull her back into the bottle.
"I knew I had a problem with alcohol, but I was adverse
to going to an A.A. meeting," says the 43-year-old
computer consultant from California. Instead she holed up
with her home computer, logging on to various electronic
bulletin boards late into the night. Through a modem, or
phone hookup, she began frequenting the cathode-ray-lit
meeting places where hackers from all over the country go
to share tips and small talk on subjects ranging from the
latest programs to new hardware. But one bulletin board
offered something quite different from the usual technical
fare - it offered hope with intensely personal messages
left by others who had fought their way back from the depths
of dependency. Day after day, Alice dialed up the bulletin
board, and when the menu on the screen asked her to choose
a "message base," she selected the one for Alcoholics
Anonymous. At first she just read the message that scrolled
past, but eventually she began typing in her own words,
expressing her own jumbled feelings about who she is and
how to stay straight.
'Instant
meeting': The personal computer, which seems to
have influenced every practical area of modern living, is
now touching the most personal of problems - addiction.
Set up and maintained by computer enthusiasts, roughly 50
electronic bulletin boards in North America now carry the
message of A.A. and other self- help groups, including Narcotics
Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous. At the push of a finger,
a user can tap into A.A.'s complete library of recovery
advice (for only the price of a phone call). And best of
all, he can remain completely anonymous - to other users
as well as anyone who might walk by the computer while he
is logged on. "It's an instant meeting," says
Bob E., whose Sober Way Out board in Miami gets 300 calls
monthly. "you can be reading A.A. literature on your
desk in the middle of a busy office and nobody will ever
know."
The
biggest bulletin-board draw is the message bases where faceless
callers post their own stories and share advice with revealing
intimacy. "if I'm feeling down and out I can type in
a note about something that is gnawing at me and send it
out," says Bob E. "Just the act of typing it in
is cathartic. And the feedback you get is
amazing." The boards are particularly helpful to people
in rural communities. Linda G., from a Midwest farming town,
says the boards give her a chance to communicate with other
recovering women, since the members of her local A.A. group
are mostly male. "There's a lot of junk you can't share
with other guys," she says. Bill McVay, an addictions
counselor based in Edmonton, Canada, has even set up a bulletin
board for Indian alcoholics who live on far-flung reservations.
Experienced
computer users know the boards aren't a substitute for a
face-to-face A.A. meeting. But they're a good tool to help
break down a newcomer's denial. Alice, who is approaching
two years sober, credits the boards with luring her out
of isolation. After six weeks on the computer, she finally
gave in to the urgings of one of her fellow users. "Sobriety
doesn't have to be white knuckled," the message read.
"Why not let me take you to a meeting?" When Alice
attended her first A.A. session outside her home, her computer
friend was at her side. "If I hadn't logged on,"
she says, "I'm sure I never would have gotten to a
meeting."
David L. Gonzalez
(Source:
NEWSWEEK, August 28, 1989)
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