LIFE

Want to know a stat that is definitely #NotOK? On average about 42 percent of teens with access to the Internet experience some type of cyberbullying (and that's only the ones who report it!). While you might percieve the cute-catty comments you leave under your BFF's Insta as no biggie, what you say on the Internet carries weight and you never quite know how your words may really be affecting someone. 

In 2013 after reading about an 11-year old girl in Florida who committed suicide after being cyberbullied for months, Trisha Prabhu decided enough was enough. Heartbroken and outraged by the story she channeled those emotions into making a change. At 13, Trisha created the technology for the app ReThink in an effort help lessen the cyberbullying pandemic. When someone types a potentially offensive comment on social media, ReThink's context sensitive software analyzes the text and gives the user a chance to reconsider what they're positing before it goes online. 

According to rethinkwords.com, "Research shows that when adolescents are alerted to ReThink their decision, they change their minds 93% of the time. In using ReThink, the overall willingness of the average adolescent to post an offensive message reduced from 71% to 4%."

Since then, her journey to spread the message about ReThink has taken Trisha all over the world. She has spoken in various entrepreneurial summits from Mexico to England, had the app featured in a Super Bowl ad and on ABC's SharkTank, has been awarded numerous honors for her innovation including the 2016 WebMD Health Hero of the Year, landed her own Ted Talk and even presented her work at the White House Science Fair (she has a selfie with Bill Nye, so jealous!). 

Trisha's simple yet trailblazing initiative will help millions of teens think twice about what they post online because it could potentially cause real emotional harm. While you don't neccearily have to be a science fair phenom to be infleuntial, Trisha proves that we all are capable of making change in our communities—all you need is a little inspiration. Either way we're *so* grateful she took an unsavory situation and ended up making a major impact for the better. 

Have you ever experienced cyberbullying? How did you deal with it? 

by Karlyn Sykes | 7/7/2017