computer science

Sober Grid

Sober Grid is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sober Grid rather than just read about it. In short: Sober Grid was a digital health company and mobile application designed to provide peer support and resources for individuals in recovery from substance use disorders. Founded in 2015 by Beau Mann, the app connected users based on geolocation and offered features such as a newsfeed, chat, and a “Burning Desire” button for urgent support needs.

Key takeaways

Sober Grid belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sober Grid to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sober Grid from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sober Grid was a digital health company and mobile application designed to provide peer support and resources for individuals in recovery from substance use disorders. Founded in 2015 by Beau Mann, the app connected users based on geolocation and offered features such as a newsfeed, chat, and a “Burning Desire” button for urgent support needs. The mobile user base was the largest social mobile networking application for people with substance abuse issues on a mobile platform. The application worked by connecting sober people and those looking to get sober based on their relative distance. Sober Grid creator Beau Mann had the idea to create Sober Grid while attending the Sundance Film Festival. He served as president and CEO. In June 2018 Sober Grid purchased Ascent, an evidence-based peer recovery coaching service in Ohio. Through this acquisition, Sober Grid is now able to provide HIPAA compliant 24/7 certified peer coaching support through their application. The company received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. The company was partnered with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School where it worked on its Artificial Intelligence capabilities to predict relapses and hopefully later intervene. The company had appeared on Fox, CNBC, Entrepreneur, NY Metro, New York Times, The Boston Globe, Forbes, and many other media outlets.

Features The design of Sober Grid had two main features: the newsfeed and the grid. The newsfeed contained a time-oriented list of posts from Sober Grid users. The grid displayed users based on their proximity. On the newsfeed, users had the option to turn on the “burning desire” feature.

Competitors Sober Grid was a leader in the digital health marketplace for mental health and Substance Use Disorder. Sober Grid competed with a rival digital health therapy, reSET-O, made for Opioid Use Disorder by Pear Therapeutics. Click Therapeutics and MAP Health Management were also competitors to Sober Grid. An additional feature, added in September 2018 allowed users to pay for certified peer coaching.

Founder's death Beau Mann, founder and CEO, went missing in November 2021. His remains were discovered in May 2023 in Santa Monica, California, and identified through dental records. His death was widely mourned in the recovery community, and marked a turning point for the company’s operations.

Shutdown As of 2025, Sober Grid is no longer operational and is listed as a deadpooled company on Tracxn. The app was unpublished from the Apple App Store in November 2023, and users began reporting service outages and login issues in early 2025. No formal public statement was issued by the company regarding its closure.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sober Grid

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sober Grid claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sober Grid before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sober Grid ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sober Grid

In research: Sober Grid appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sober Grid in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sober Grid is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geosocial networking, Substance abuse, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sober Grid outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sober Grid in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sober Grid means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sober Grid out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sober Grid in simple terms?

Why does Sober Grid matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sober Grid?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sober Grid.