Welcome to Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous! We’re glad you’ve found us, and we hope our community can be as helpful to you as it has been for us. ITAA is a Twelve-Step fellowship of individuals who support each other in recovering from internet and technology addiction. This includes social media addiction, phone addiction, video addiction, television addiction, gaming addiction, news addiction, pornography addiction, dating apps, online research, online shopping, or any other digital activity that becomes compulsive and problematic. 

Regardless of how large or small you feel your problem may be, we encourage you to try attending one of our daily meetings to see whether ITAA can be helpful for you. Our meetings are free and open to anyone who struggles with compulsive internet use. Meetings are safe, secure, and anonymous. ITAA is highly diverse, and our meetings include members of all ages, genders, and ethnicities from around the world. In addition, we also have meetings in French, Spanish, Russian, German, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, and Polish. You may also find a local, in-person meeting in your city.

What is online Shopping addiction?

Online shopping addiction is the compulsive and harmful compulsive shopping online. It can involve shopaholism, mood disorders, oniomania, compulsive buying disorder (CBD), financial problems, low self-esteem, and self-control issues. As a subset of internet and technology addiction, cybershopping addiction can lead to changes in the brain that over time compromise our ability to focus, prioritize, regulate our mood, and relate to others. 

Those of us who have come to identify as online shopping addicts experienced several common symptoms. We compulsively shopped for longer than we intended and spent more than we wanted to, despite attempts to control or cut back our use. Even when we were aware of the consequences and wanted to stop, we were unable to do so. When we weren’t engaging in our online shopping behaviors, we experienced distraction, anxiety, and irritability. We were unable to enjoy and be present with our offline lives. We used online shopping to alter our moods and escape our problems. Our addictive behaviors jeopardized our relationships, educational pursuits, and career opportunities. We felt shame and demoralization about our spending habits.  

When we first noticed these troubling experiences, we began to acknowledge that something wasn’t right. But many of us still questioned whether we really had an addiction. For those of us still wondering, the following questions may help us better identify whether there are signs of online shopping addiction in our lives.

Online Shopping Addiction Questionnaire:

1. Do I ever go to an online store to quickly buy something and then discover that hours have passed?
2. Do I ever swear off or set limits around online shopping, and then break my commitments?
3. Do I have shopping sprees or product research binges that last all day or late into the night?
4. Do I turn to retail therapy whenever I have a free moment?
5. Does my impulsive buying lead me to neglect my personal hygiene, nutritional needs, or physical health?
6. Do I feel isolated, emotionally absent, distracted, or anxious when I’m not actively spending money?
7. Does my shopping problem contribute to conflict or avoidance in personal relationships?
8. Have my online shopping habits jeopardized my studies, financial wellbeing, or career?
9. Do I hide or lie about the amount of time or money I spend on e-commerce websites or the kinds of products I buy? 
10. Do I feel guilt or shame around my compulsive shopping?

Nobody should have to suffer due to their online shopping. If you’ve answered yes to several of the above questions, we encourage you to consider getting support.

What are the effects of Online Shopping Addiction?

Online shopping addiction can be considered a subset of internet addiction disorder (IAD), which was first investigated by the psychologist Dr. Kimberly S. Young, who published the original diagnostic criteria for this mental health disorder in 1998. Today there is still an open discussion in the scientific community regarding how to define, qualify, and study the various forms of internet addiction disorder, and the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) has begun to acknowledge the severity of this class of addictions through its inclusion of internet gaming disorder. There is widespread consensus from both researchers and clinicians that the problematic and compulsive overuse of the internet, digital media, and smart devices has been rising over the past two decades, and that the prevalence of this behavioral addiction is associated with a variety of mental, emotional, physical, interpersonal, and professional problems.

Perhaps most significantly, the dopamine releases triggered by internet and technology addiction have been shown to cause structural changes in the brain very similar to the changes experienced in people with alcohol or drug addictions. These changes lead to impairments in our decision-making, reasoning, reward expectation, executive function, cognitive function, emotional processing, and our working memory. A variety of studies have shown that access to television and video games decreases the amount of pain medication needed by hospital patients.

Of course, the effects of internet and technology addiction are not only reflected in the structure of our brains, but in our daily lives as well. Internet and technology addiction is strongly associated with impulse control disorder and/or obsessive-compulsive disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), anxiety, increased substance use, and depression. In addition to these co-occurring disorders, it’s associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic disease, lower sleep quality, increased fatigue, and symptoms of insomnia, all of which are correlated to a higher mortality rate. Perhaps most tragically of all, individuals with internet and technology addiction have much higher rates of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts—roughly three times the average.

These findings are cause for serious concern. While some might minimize the impact of internet and technology addiction in comparison to chemical substance use disorders, the truth is that internet and technology addiction changes our brains in a manner similar to the effects produced by an addiction to alcohol, heroin, or substance abuse. 

Who is at risk for Online Shopping Addiction?

Online shopping addiction is a condition that can affect people of all ages, from young people to those later in life. Our meetings include young adults, college students, working professionals, parents, and retirees, with members of all ages, genders, and ethnicities from around the world. While the risk factors are varied, internet addiction does not discriminate based on age, educational level, socio-economic status, geography, race, or ethnicity. Its negative effects impact not only the addict themselves, but also their family members and loved ones. By damaging our potential, self-esteem, and quality of life, excessive online spending can impair our lives. Additionally, by contributing to depression and suicidal tendencies, our addiction can be life-threatening. Regardless of our background, if our use of spending habits is causing us to experience distress or difficulties, there are actions we can take to improve our situation and find relief.

A Solution for Online Shopping Addiction

While internet and technology addiction has only begun to receive attention in recent years, the disease of addiction is not new. Millions of people have found sustainable, long-term freedom from their addictive behaviors through mutual aid support groups modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous. A recent systematic review conducted by Stanford public health researchers determined that participation in Alcoholics Anonymous was nearly always found to be more effective than other therapies in achieving continuous abstinence from alcoholism. The AA model has been successfully adapted to help people suffering from a variety of addictions, including narcotics, marijuana, nicotine, sex, pornography, and food, among others.

In continuation of this tradition, Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous applies the proven model of AA to help those who are suffering from an addiction to online shopping find long-term freedom from their self-destructive behaviors. We share our experience, strength, and hope with each other through group meetings and one-on-one relationships, and we work a recovery program based on the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. Our meetings are free and anonymous, and we welcome anyone who thinks they may benefit from support to visit one of our meetings.

Members Share Their Experiences Finding Recovery in ITAA

I have been recovering from an online shopping addiction. Once I start, I can’t stop. Sometimes I didn’t even realize what I was doing or how long I had been shopping because it was so habitual. With the help of ITAA, including a co-sponsor, a shopping accountability group, and outreach calls, I am becoming more aware of my patterns and being more intentional about shopping (whether online or offline). I am thankful for the time and mental space I am getting back.

***

I used to buy stupid things on Amazon or other stores almost every day. When I wasn’t buying, I was checking the cart to see when things would arrive, reading reviews about the things in the mail, and anticipating what it would be like when the item arrived. Of course, the item never produced lasting happiness, so I’d have to buy another thing to get the high again. I am learning through ITAA how to be happy with what I have and how to tolerate the feelings I was escaping when I occupied my mind with shopping.

***

I never knew that I had a shopping disorder or was a compulsive shopper until I started to hear the middle lines of other members in ITAA. When I could not use social media, I would turn to online shopping, which became another form of a coping mechanism. This was a dangerous zone for me because I didn’t know how to stop from researching cheap airline flight tickets, new apparel, or the prices of cosmetic surgeries. Through my participation in ITAA, I realized that I use online shopping as a distraction for dealing with my own negative emotions. ITAA helped me to let go of online shopping and get to the main root cause of the issue.

***

Our program has helped countless people find long-term freedom from internet and technology addiction. For more personal stories, we encourage you to read and listen to the recovery stories on our website.

How to Recover From Online Shopping Addiction

While there is no permanent or quick cure for online shopping addiction, there are concrete actions we can take to recover from our compulsive behaviors and restore our emotional and mental wellbeing. We have found the following actions to be of significant help in finding long-term, sustainable freedom from our compulsive and problematic buying behaviors.

1. Attend daily meetings. In addition to a growing number of face-to-face meetings around the world, ITAA has daily online meetings where our global fellowship meets to share experience, strength and hope with each other. We are encouraged to try attending six meetings in a short time frame to help decide whether ITAA may be helpful to us.
2. Make daily outreach calls. Our impulsive buying dependence drew us into isolation and self-reliance. As we begin to recover, we learn that we can trust others and be vulnerable. Calling other members outside of meetings helps us stay connected, supported, and sober, and it gives us an opportunity to share in greater detail than we might during a meeting.
3. Abstain. With the help of other members in recovery, we identify and abstain from the specific addictive behaviors which are causing the greatest difficulties in our lives. We recognize that this is a process that unfolds over time, and we make use of the support available to us in ITAA to remain sober one day at a time.
4. Learn more about the recovery process. Our website has many resources about the nature of our addiction and how we might best chart our recovery journey, navigate withdrawal symptoms, and respond to cravings. In addition, there’s a rich body of literature from other 12 Step programs that we can lean on to better inform our healing process and to learn more about the time-tested methods which have helped millions of other addicts recover.
5. Find a sponsor and work the steps. We have benefitted from asking somebody we resonate with to sponsor us and working the Twelve Steps together with them, which is the vital and transformative basis of our long-term recovery from our addiction. A great way to connect with potential sponsors is to make outreach calls with other members who are sober and working the Steps.
6. Make use of outside help. Many members supplement their recovery with a variety of resources beyond ITAA, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), psychotherapy, group therapy, psychiatry, inpatient or outpatient addiction treatment centers, other 12 Step fellowships, spiritual counsel, or other mental health wellness resources. While we do not endorse any one treatment option or intervention in particular, we encourage all members to avail themselves of any outside help that can support them in their recovery journey. A healthcare or mental health professional may be able to give advice tailored to your situation.
   
   

What Does Sobriety From Online Shopping Addiction Look Like?

Sobriety in ITAA is a process of discovery that looks different for each of us. As part of this process, we identify and abstain from the specific behaviors which trigger our addiction. We have also found it beneficial to establish a positive vision for our internet and technology use. For example, we may practice using technology purposefully, minimally, or only as necessary.

Some of us have also found it helpful to practice healthier form of coping strategies related to online compulsive shopping habits, such as exercising, connecting with others, or meditating. We might cancel our credit cards, unsubscribe from shopping memberships, let go of hoarding and cluttering patterns, and work with others to limit overspending and get our finances back in the black.

We respect each member’s dignity to discover their own path to recovery, and we work with other experienced members to help define what sobriety means for each of us as individuals. As part of this process, we lean on meetings and phone calls to help maintain our sobriety commitments. Rather than shopping online to change or numb our emotions, we seek to use technology as a tool for meeting our goals, living in alignment with our values, and developing flourishing lives.

Types of Internet Addiction

While we all suffer from a common disease, it expresses itself in different ways for each of us. The following are some common compulsive internet and technology behaviors. It’s important to keep in mind that this list is neither comprehensive nor prescriptive—it is essential to identify our own personal compulsive or unnecessary internet and technology behaviors with the help of other members.

• Social media addiction is the addictive use of social media platforms, messaging apps, newsfeeds, discussion forums, chat rooms, and online communities. Addictive social media use can include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Discord, Reddit, Pinterest, and others.
• Streaming addiction is the compulsive and addictive use of any streaming platforms or content. This includes online videos, movies, television, podcasts, and platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Twitch, or TikTok.
• Phone addiction is the compulsive and self-destructive use of smartphone devices and apps. This may involve excessive phone use or compulsive notification checking, especially at inappropriate times such as late at night or while studying, working, or driving.
• Video game addiction refers to obsessive, unhealthy, or excessive use of video games, as well as any other digital or online games. This includes computer games, console games, phone games, and social media games. 
• Porn addiction is the addictive consumption of digital erotic content and can also entail other unhealthy digital sexual behaviors. This can include pornographic videos, images, or writing, sexually arousing imagery, anonymous chat rooms, dating apps, and AI-generated pornography.
• Information Addiction is an addictive and unhealthy relationship to researching and consuming information. This can include an addiction to the news, scrolling social media feeds, online shopping, online encyclopedias, AI chatbots, and compulsive online research such as product or health research.
  
  

About ITAA

Internet and Technology Addicts Anonymous is a Twelve-Step fellowship based on the principles pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous. Our organization is entirely volunteer-based and self-supporting. The only requirement to participate in ITAA is a desire to stop using internet and technology compulsively.

We have no opinions on outside issues, and we neither condemn nor condone any particular technology. We are not affiliated with any political agenda, religious movement, or outside interests. Our single purpose is to abstain from compulsive internet and technology use and to help others find freedom from this addiction. We are a US 501(c)(3) federal tax-exempt nonprofit incorporated in the state of Colorado. 

Page last updated on April 19, 2025