Thanks to a 15-year-old from Naperville, Illinois, there is now an app that gives teens and cyber bullies the chance to think twice before sending hurtful messages on social media.

For the last two years teen tech wiz, Trisha Prabhu, has been researching and developing an app called, ReThink, which aims to knock out the problem of cyber bullying. The idea for ReThink was born after Prabhu heard about 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick, who committed suicide after allegedly being cyberbullied by classmates.

ReThink is powered by patented software with sensitive filtering technology that is able to recognize whether or not a message is offensive, and then gives the adolescent a chance to re-think their words and decision to post such a message.

Right now you may be thinking the same thing I am: "Sure, this app sounds awesome in theory, but will it actually make teens re-think posting offensive messages?" According to the app's website, rethinkwords.com, it does:

Groundbreaking research shows that when adolescents are alerted to ReThink their decision, they change their minds 93% of the time. In this internationally acclaimed study, using ReThink, the overall willingness of the average adolescent to post an offensive message reduced from 71% to 4%.

Those are impressive numbers, and I truly hope this app makes a huge difference. Bullying is senseless, extremely damaging to victims, and totally ticks me off!

So far this app is only available for Android users, but an iOS version will be available in the next few weeks.

Parents, download this app on your teen's smart devices immediately. Anything that will put a stop to bullying and young adults taking their own lives is worth a shot!

 

 

More From Rockford's New Country Q98.5