Cyber bullying can have devastating effects on children.
According to a report published in JAMA Pediatrics, this form of bullying is more strongly connected to suicidal thought in children and teenagers than traditional bullying.
Not all young people are prepared to let cyber bullying affect them, though. Just last year, 15-year-old Trisha Parbhu highlighted the effects of cyberbullying in a TEDxTeen talk last year.
Fatherly.com covered this brilliant young lady, who, wishing to prevent cyberbullying from affecting others, has created an app called ReThink.
ReThink is described as a “non-intrusive, innovative, patented software product that effectively stops cyberbullying before the damage is done.”
The app is innovative because it deals with bullies directly before they commit the act, instead of having the victim step up and confront bullies, which can be a daunting notion for kids.
The objective of the app is to prompt users and force them to re-consider their words before they release them into the Internet. The use of patented context-sensitive filtering technology allows the app to detect whether the message is offensive and alerts users to that fact.
Prabhu provides the analogy that an adolescent brain is similar to a car with no brakes and the app works because users are forced to consider their actions before they go through with it.
While this app helps prevent cyberbullying at its source, do watch out for your child if you believe he or she is being bullied.
You can download the app here.
Has your child ever been the victim of cyberbullying? How did you handle it? How did your child handle it? Do tell us in a comment below.
