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
Ctrl Alt Recovery Blog:
Stop Gambling Part 3: Rebuild Your Money, Trust, and Life
Quitting gambling is the start. Rebuilding is the win. Fix your finances, earn back trust, and build a life worth keeping. Part 3 of 3. ...more
Screen and Gaming Addiction ,family&teens &Gambling
October 27, 2026•4 min read
Stop Gambling Part 2: How to Beat the Urge When It Hits
The walls are up. Then the urge hits. How to ride out a gambling craving without placing the bet. Part 2 of 3 in the Stop Gambling series. ...more
Gambling
October 27, 2026•4 min read
Stop Gambling Part 1: Do this now
Willpower won't stop gambling. Accountability will. Get a partner, block the apps, lock the app store, and wall off the money. Part 1 of 3. ...more
Screen and Gaming Addiction ,family&teens &Gambling
October 27, 2026•4 min read
He Was 24. The App Kept Dealing.
Ray M. was 24. His story is a wake-up call for every guy who bets on his phone. The warning signs and the one move to make today. ...more
Screen and Gaming Addiction ,Gambling
October 19, 2026•3 min read
Your Betting App Is Not Your Friend
15 lawsuits say FanDuel and DraftKings were built to hook you. Here's how the VIP machine keeps you betting, and the one move that breaks it. ...more
Gambling
October 16, 2026•3 min read
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•3 min read
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•2 min read
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•2 min read
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•2 min read
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
Partners of Addicts
August 13, 2026•4 min read
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•4 min read
You're Not Overreacting: The Real Trauma of Discovery (Part 1 of
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
Pornography Addiction ,Gambling &Partners of Addicts
August 13, 2026•3 min read
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.
Meet the 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
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Digital Addiction Intelligence from the Cyber Trenches
Digital Addiction Coach provides non-clinical coaching. It is not emergency care.
In a crisis, call or text 988 (US) or your local emergency number.