Bellevue, Washington, is considered the birthplace of Amazon, the giant online retailer that began operating there in 1994. Bellevue sits next to Redmond, Washington, the home of Microsoft. Nearby is Medina, where both Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates own high-tech palaces.

So it seems fitting that Bellevue, Washington, is the birthplace of the Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous (ITAA), a mutual support group of self-admitted technology addicts who follow the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous in attempting to recover.

Those who find humor in this might reconsider after reading a recent piece from USA Today Wellness Reporter, Charles Trepany. Trepany profiles an ITAA member named “Lauren” who vividly describes a yearslong decline into internet addiction that resulted in her ignoring cleanliness, living in an infested apartment, not bathing, and contemplating suicide.

If you need to talk with someone about suicidal thoughts or about advice for a friend who is having suicidal thoughts, the 9-8-8 Nationwide mental health crisis hotline run by SAMHSA still works (even though the agency itself has been gutted).

Most children in America have gone through waves of infatuation for technology, where it seems they can immerse themselves for hours at a time, for days on end, without regard for basic needs. This can result in a predictable sequence of events that leaves many people unable to cope:

• Sleep loss
• Problems at school
• Problems at work
• Problems at home
• Isolation
• Depression

USA Today takes readers right down the doom spiral with Lauren, who was surprised to learn that the internet was driving her depression, not the other way around. She tried locking her devices up, to no avail. Three years ago, she found the ITAA.

Formed in Bellevue in 2017, ITAA is a clearinghouse for more than 100 weekly online meetings and dozens of face-to-face meetings, with members in over 80 countries. “[W]e have meetings in English, Spanish, German, Russian, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew, and Polish,” boasts the organization’s website.

The ITAA website serves a broad umbrella of technology-related disorders, including:

[S]ocial media addiction, phone addiction, video addiction, television addiction, gaming addiction, news addiction, pornography addiction, dating apps, online research, online shopping, AI addiction, or any other digital activity that becomes compulsive and problematic.

Don’t forget chatbot addiction!

In addition to being a clearinghouse of weekly meetings, the ITAA provides a variety of resources related to internet addiction. These include self-assessments, a guide for newcomers, and an archive of recovery stories submitted by members.

There is an interesting similarity between technology addiction and eating addiction. Just as a person cannot live without food and therefore cannot abstain from eating indefinitely, so the ITAA feels a person cannot effectively live in the modern world and abstain completely from technology.

The solution ITAA has come up with will sound very familiar to regular AddictionNews readers: They work to eliminate one problem website, app or service at a time.

This is the identical approach taken by BrainWeighve, an eating addiction recovery app designed by eHealth International, publishers of AddictionNews. BrainWeighve focuses on giving up one problem food at a time.

This measured approach to recovery is very effective, and it is being adopted in the treatment of substance use disorders and other behavioral disorders, where the goal is no longer abstinence but a reduction in use.

Three years after connecting with the ITAA, Lauren says, “I can use my computer and I can use the internet and technology in a way that really serves my life and my recovery from addiction.” One step at a time has become one site at a time, a step-by-step approach to recovery for technology addicts and everyone else.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published November 18, 2025.

Sources:

“Their addictions nearly killed them. Internet, tech addicts anonymous saved their lives,” USA Today, November 13, 2025.

“A Guide for Newcomers,” Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous, December 9, 2023.

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