Loosid App: Problematic or A Missing Piece to the Sober Community?

Lossid is an App that is backed by celebrity and fashionista Kelly Osbourne. After struggling with addiction herself, Osbourne felt that Loosid was the perfect match for her to help others facing her old demons.

Kelly Osbourne backs the app as their brand ambassador, in an interview Osbourne said that she is “so proud and excited to be a part of the Loosid community. Loosid app launched this week in NYC and provides a social community for those of us living a sober lifestyle. THANK YOU Loosid for establishing such an amazing resource!"

But is Loosid “such an amazing resource?" Some would argue, it isn’t. The app itself touts to have sober events, however what is sober about an event serving alcohol at it? The app promotes seeing the new Broadway Musical, Kong. And despite my love of all things Broadway, I would never dream of promoting a Broadway show as a sober event. It is well known that all shows serve alcohol at the concession stands, and for anyone who is recovering, or struggling with their sobriety, being so close to such a substance is problematic. Especially for an app that is trying to connect users with sober resources to be promoting events with alcohol at them.

The launch event itself had a dreadful turn out, and more over served mocktails, which is a controversial topic within the sober community. “For an alcoholic, life is a temptation to drink,” says Kelly Fitzgerald, a blogger at The Sober Señorita and Addiction.com. “But the [social] setting may bring on more of a temptation.”

“For some people, continuing to act as though you’re having a drink can lead to the eventual addition of a ‘little’ alcohol and then more, leading to relapse,” explains Pamela M. Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, senior science advisor to Elements Behavioral Health, Addiction.com and author of The Hunger Fix: The Three-Stage Detox and Recovery Program for Food Addiction. “Mocktails can ignite the [brain’s] reward center memory of pleasure associated with both the ritual/process of drinking, and the drink itself,” explains Dr. Peeke, citing a study by Nora D. Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. “In some people, aping the original addictive behavior — including drinks that look real — is enough to eventually ignite the desire for the real thing.”

Given this information and Dr. Peeke’s ongoing research, it is problematic that the event heavily promoted their mocktail sponsor. They treated it as if their sponsor was an alcohol sponsor, which gave some in the sober community pause.

Now, I am not saying that I do not want more sober apps out there. As a sober advocate and a project manager for an online sober community, I would love for there to be more sober dating apps and resources for people to be able to connect with other sober individuals. And if Loosid wants to be that place, they need to work with more sober advocates and people in recovery in order to make their sober space more inclusive to the community. My hope is that Loosid takes the feedback from the community and uses it, otherwise, their future is limited.