Digital Addiction Recovery Blog
Digital addiction, digital mental health, digital betrayal, and the growing dangers of AI. Real tools for the people living it, and the professionals who refer them
Meet Our Authors:
John Winstanley
John Winstanley is the founder of Digital Addiction Coach (DAC). He's logged 300+ credit hours in trauma, life, and CBT coaching, and he's certified in CBT, DBT, ACT, and mindfulness-based recovery. He's also 25+ years sober himself. John doesn't just coach digital addiction recovery. He's lived it.
Founder and Lead Coach
Digital Addiction Coach
Marissa Watts
Marissa Watts is a compassionate therapist who helps adults navigate anxiety, addiction and recovery, body image, disordered eating, self-worth, and life transitions. Passionate about understanding the deeper patterns behind our behaviors and helping people reconnect with themselves, she takes an affirming, curious, and whole-person approach to supporting clients as they create meaningful and sustainable change.
Therapist - Sage Counseling
TBD
Apply to be Author below
Ctrl Alt Recovery Blog:
Meet Marissa Watts, MS: Turning Her Own Struggle Into Her Life's Work
Meet Marissa Watts, MS, our first Ctrl+Alt+Recovery guest author. A Cumming, GA therapist who turned her own recovery journey into a career helping others understand their patterns, including our rela... ...more
Our Story ,therapists & treatment centers
September 10, 2026
The Comorbidity Data Your Screening Might Be Missing
New APA-presented data links BPD to higher rates of problematic internet use, porn use, and dating app use. What it means for intake screening, and where accountability-based coaching fits alongside c... ...more
Cross-Addiction & Relapse ,AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues &therapists & treatment centers
August 15, 2026
It's Not Stress Making You Scroll. It's Temptation.
New 14-day study of 900 adults found temptation, not stress or mood, drives problematic internet use. Here's why naming the urge beats managing the mood, and how R.A.D.D. teaches clients to do it. Aud... ...more
Cross-Addiction & Relapse ,AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues &therapists & treatment centers
August 14, 2026
When Your AI Chatbot Becomes Something You Can't Put Down
New peer-reviewed research names "problematic use of generative AI chatbots" as a clinical pattern, loss of control, emotional reliance, continued use despite harm. Here's what it means if you're lean... ...more
Cross-Addiction & Relapse ,AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues &therapists & treatment centers
August 14, 2026
Your Spouse Is "Just Talking to an App." Here's Why That Still Hurts
"It's not real, it's just a chatbot" is the weakest argument in the room, and this post explains why. If your spouse is spending hours in private, emotionally intimate conversations with an AI compani... ...more
AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues ,family&teens
August 13, 2026
AI Is a Tool...Not a Toy. Series: The AI Weaponization (Post 1 of 3)
AI is a tool. Point it at a lonely, isolated person and it becomes something else entirely. This post breaks down what's actually happening as AI companion apps go mainstream, and why it's a bigger th... ...more
family&teens
August 13, 2026
You're Not Overreacting: The Real Trauma of Discovery
Discovering a partner's porn addiction is real trauma, not overreacting. Learn what betrayal trauma is and where healing actually starts. Part 1 of 3. ...more
AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues ,Pornography Addiction &family&teens
August 13, 2026
AI...Your Childs New "BFF" Doesn't Sleep, Doesn't Judge, and Isn't Real
Most parents have no idea if their teenager has an AI "friend." Not a homework helper, a companion they talk to about their day, their crush, their anxiety, behind a closed door at 11pm. ...more
AI Addiction and Mental Health Issues ,family&teens
August 13, 2026
Why Willpower (and Apps Alone) Won't Save Your Relationship
Blockers and willpower alone rarely fix porn addiction long term. See the three ingredients real recovery structure needs, and why apps aren't one. Part 3. ...more
Pornography Addiction ,therapists & treatment centers
August 13, 2026
Tell Me Everything or Tell Me Nothing? Neither.
Full disclosure or total silence, neither rebuilds trust after betrayal. Learn about therapeutic disclosure and boundaries that actually hold. Part 2 of 3. ...more
Pornography Addiction ,therapists & treatment centers
August 13, 2026
Write For The Digital Addiction Coach Blog
Your clients are dealing with porn, gaming, gambling, and now AI chatbots stepping in where real relationships and real therapy used to be. You've got insight worth putting in front of people. We're building the audience that needs to read it.
What guest authors get:
No pitch. Just a conversation to see if it's a fit.
