RecoveryNon-Profits


Eight Commitments of Media Sobriety

Covenant for Adults

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We recommend that all adults who wish to keep their family safe online and with media consider making the following commitment. While we do not believe it is helpful to be legalistic or too rigid, we do believe that there is power to making and signing covenants. The goal of this covenant is to establish boundaries to help keep a family safe in the information age.

 

  1. Commitment to Media Sobriety: avoiding all forms of media addiction, including avoiding pornography, gaming addiction, chat addiction, television addiction or any form of online or media addiction that is damaging to relationships.

  2. Commitment to Protect Children Online: including installing Internet filtering software, requiring children to use and taking additional steps for online safety including having all children in the family sign an online safety covenant.

  3. Commitment to Protect Children from All Second Hand Smut: keeping any movies, games, channels, magazines, books and music that you use that may be inappropriate for children out of their reach. This may include locking these materials in a safe place if necessary.

  4. Commitment to Get Educated on Online and Media Safety: become knowledgeable about media and online safety issues and aware of new challenges that may emerge as technology and popular culture change.

  5. Commitment to Appropriate Communication: including maintaining appropriate boundaries in communication with others online whether through e-mail, chat, instant message, talk, video, blogs or any other form of media. A good guideline is, if something would be inappropriate in communication with someone in person, then it is inappropriate online.

  6. Commitment to Avoid Online Affairs: commit to avoid online affairs. A good guideline is if you would not go to a level of emotional depth and intimacy in communication with someone face-to-face in person, then you should not go to that level of depth online - an online affair is still an affair.

  7. Commitment to Recovery: to enter recovery and sign the Media Sobriety Covenant for Adults in Recovery if I am not able to maintain these commitments and maintain media sobriety.

  8. Commitment to Supporting Others in Recovery: If I am in relationship with someone who is in recovery from pornography or other media addiction, I am committed to not making decisions that might expose them to second-hand smut; specifically, I will keep any potentially triggering movies, channels, games, magazines or other media out of reach of the person in recovery. If I show a pattern of enabling my partner in their addiction, I will seek individual and/or couples counseling to deal with my part in any family patterns.

We agree to follow the above commitments.

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