Teen tackles bullying with ReThink app that spots mean words

Trisha Prabhu's efforts to stop cyberbullies has taken her to the White House, the popular TED stage and the TV show "Shark Tank," where she came away with $100,000.

The now-17-year-old created an app at the age of 13 that makes bullies think twice before posting mean messages or sending bullying texts.

The rising senior at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, who also sits on the New Jersey-based Tyler Clementi Foundation's board, said stories of children and teens being bullied was the impetus for her app. 

Reading about children committing suicide as a result of being cyberbullied angered her and spurred her into action, Prabhu said. She said stories like that of Rockaway Township's Mallory Grossman, a 12-year-old middle school girl who died by suicide last month after allegedly being bullied for a year, were the reason she sat down and came up with the app. 

The app, ReThink, is a teenager’s approach to a prevalent teen problem, she said. 

According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 83 percent of girls and 79 percent of boys say they have been bullied.

Prabhu said one girl's suicide remains with her. Rebecca Sedwick of Florida was 11 years old when she died by suicide.

“She had climbed a water tower and jumped off after being cyberbullied for a year and a half after a feud about a boy,” Prabhu said. “I cannot fathom how people could be that rude or not have concern for the impact of their words.”

The tragic stories have also brought her to the Tyler Clementi Foundation, she said.

The Rutgers University freshman jumped from the George Washington Bridge after he was bullied in 2010, said his mother, Jane Clementi. Prabhu said his story really motivated her.  

“This has been such a pervasive problem in our society,” Prabhu said. “Tyler’s story really stuck with me. He was such a bright man with such an amazing life full of potential. To think that that was stolen from him because of cruelty online, it was heartbreaking.” 

ANTI-BULLYING PROGRESS:Jane Clementi: Progress against bullying has been made, but slowly

NOT ENOUGH:Mallory Grossman's parents say the school district didn't do enough to save their daughter

SPIKE IN BULLYING:Bullying in Rockaway Township spiked as parents sought help before daughter's suicide

While trying to find a solution or a way to help, Prabhu said, she found phone numbers for support hotlines and lots of advice aimed at teens to “block the user” or “tell your parents.” But most of the time “people don't tell other people they are being cyberbullied,” she said, making these solutions ineffective.

“We have seen a host of reactive solutions that have been based on the ideas of adults trying to fix problems that teenagers are confronting,” said Prabhu. “Why don't we have teenagers confronting issues that teenagers know?”

Next, she researched the adolescent brain. “Brain science,” as she called it, was fresh and new to her. She was fascinated by how the brain works.

“The really interesting thing about the brain is that it develops from the back to the front. By the time you are 13, almost 90 percent of the brain is developed,” Prabhu said. “But really the brain is going to continue to develop for another 13 years. The front part of the brain itself takes another 13 years to develop.”

That front part of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, is responsible for impulse control. It allows for better judgment and is not fully developed until a person reaches the mid-20s, according to Teensafe.com.

“That is why younger people have trouble making good decisions in the heat of the moment,” Prabhu said. 

She said this is the reason some teens act in a rash manner, then look back on a decision and think: “Now why did I do that?” Often they are decisions that were made in anger. 

“Many times they are apologetic,” said Prabhu. “But it doesn't matter, because the damage is already done."

ReThink is free in Apple’s App Store and Google Play. It is designed to interrupt when its algorithms detect a "nasty text or post is being typed." 

It would largely be invisible on a smartphone. It works across all of the apps on the phone and interjects itself only when needed. 

“It should really only work when you're about to send or post something that is offensive,” she said. “If you try to post ‘You are so ugly,’ the app will pick up on that," she said.

The idea is to give teens a second chance by flashing the words “Are you sure you want to post this message? It could be offensive. Rethink” on the screen. 

Prabhu said she judges the app’s effectiveness by the hundreds of emails she gets every day from people around the world who are using it, especially students. 

“They really feel that it is a tool that empowers them to make better decisions instead of having someone watch over them,” Prabhu said. 

Email: myers@northjersey.com