Teenager's anti-cyberbullying app ReThink gains global recognition

A personal experience with cyberbullying at age 13 inspired Trisha Mahajan to develop an innovative solution. Learning about the tragic case of Rebecca Sedwick, a student who died by suicide after enduring relentless online attacks, deeply affected Mahajan. "Something is very wrong with our internet," she reflected, realizing the urgent need to address the issue.

Mahajan decided to shift the focus from victim-based prevention, like blocking or reporting, to intervening with the potential aggressor. This led to the creation of ReThink, a mobile keyboard designed to make users pause and reconsider their words before sending potentially offensive messages. The app presents an alert, asking users to think twice, but ultimately leaves the final decision to them.

An initial experiment demonstrated ReThink's effectiveness: 71% of teenagers were willing to send aggressive messages without the alert, but this figure dropped to just 4% when prompted to reconsider. The Harvard Crimson reported that young people stopped sending offensive messages in over 93% of instances after using the ReThink prompt. By October 2020, the app had surpassed 500,000 downloads and engaged with 5 million students across 1,500 schools in 134 countries.

Mahajan's work has gained significant recognition, including being a Google Science Fair finalist at 13, receiving an invitation to the White House, and delivering a TED Talk in India. Her non-profit organization has also earned praise from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

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I remember reading that story and thinking something’s wrong here. Something is very wrong with our internet, with what it’s become, and what we are sending young people into when they get a phone.