Anti-bullying software developed by 15 year old, Trisha Prabhu

The majority of news events that we read and talk about revolve around the problems that kids encounter online. They often involve sexting, cyber bullying, suicide, and kids over exposing their lives online.  While there is example after example of teenagers struggling with decisions involving the internet, I find it very exciting when there is positive news out there that I can share.

Here is the story an inspiring teenager, Trisha Prabhu, a 15 year old high school student from the Chicagoland area. She was bothered and upset by the story of a Florida girl who was cyber bullied to the point of suicide. She put her emotions into action and developed this anti-bullying software, ReThink. The goal, to slow kids down when posting and challenge them to think one more time before posting, is perfect. While this software is targeted at cyber bullying, I wonder if it can help to reprogram kids to pause before posting in general. Maybe one kid will think before sending the sext on to a friend. Maybe another kid will pause a second before using inappropriate language in a tweet.

This is a great article to share with your kids. My kids found it interesting that a 15 year old could create and deliver this software. Like most articles, it generated a conversation about online behavior that was not parent led. My kids started talking about the suicide that inspired the development of the software. They talked about thinking through your words before you post them and the effects they might have on others. As much as I would love to think that I was responsible for this conversations and thoughts of the kids, I was not. If I had lectured them on the effects of hurtful words online, I would probably be met with a hearty eye roll and an effort to escape as quickly as possible. But there is always a much stronger effect when they see, hear, or read about something like this from a peer of some sort.