ReThink the Internet: How to Make the Digital World a Lot Less Sucky - Hardcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Trisha Prabhu is a twenty-year-old innovator, social entrepreneur, global advocate, and inventor of ReThink™, a patented technology and an effective way to detect and stop online hate. As a victim of cyberbullying herself, Trisha was shocked, heartbroken, and outraged. Deeply moved to action by the silent pandemic of cyberbullying and passionate to end online hate, Trisha created the patented technology product ReThink™, which detects and stops online hate at the source, before the bullying occurs, before the damage is done. Her globally acclaimed research has found that with ReThink™, adolescents change their mind 93 percent of the time and decide not to post an offensive message.

As a CEO and social entrepreneur, Trisha has received worldwide acclaim in the business world. In 2016, President Obama and the U.S. State Department invited Trisha to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, to showcase her work and share her story with other entrepreneurs. Not long after, ReThink™ was featured on ABC's hit TV show, Shark Tank. In 2019, ReThink™ was the winner of Harvard University's President's Global Innovation Challenge & Harvard College's i3 Innovation Challenge. Trisha is the first ever Harvard College freshman to win the Harvard University's President Innovation Grand Prize.

Trisha has also been honored with awards and recognition for her ingenuity in inventing, building, and launching ReThink™. For her research and scientific inquiry, Trisha was named a 2014 Google Science Fair Global Finalist. She was awarded the 2016 MIT INSPIRE Aristotle Award, as well as the 2016 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois High School Innovator Award. She has the esteemed distinction of showcasing and sharing her ReThink™ technology at the White House Science Fair at the invitation of President Obama.

For her advocacy, public service, and commitment to leading an anti-cyberbullying movement, Trisha was selected as a 2015 Global Teen Leader by the We Are Family Foundation, conferred the 2016 WebMD Health Hero of the Year Prodigy Award, and received the Anti-Bullying Champion Award by the International Princess Diana Awards, the Global Anti-Bullying Hero Award from Auburn University, and the Upstander Legacy Celebration Award from the Tyler Clementi Foundation. She is also a proud recipient of several other awards, including the Daily Points of Light Honor, awarded by the George H. W. Bush Foundation for extraordinary social volunteering and service.

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Welcome to This Book: Meet Me, Trisha Prabhu

Hey, there! What’s up? Welcome to this book! You might be here for many reasons: (1) you think the internet is kinda sucky (I couldn’t agree more) -and you want to change it, (2) you want to learn more about the internet and technology (which, even though it’s everywhere, is still kinda complicated . . .), or (3) . . . let’s be real: some adult you know bought this book for you. Whichever of the three it is (and maybe it’s more than one), I’m so excited you’re here! Here’s what that adult didn’t know when they bought this book: I’m a young person, too, so I hate the lecturing, cringey, sappy “life lessons” just as much as you do. Let me start, then, by being clear: that’s not what this book is about. It’s also not here to make you use your phone a certain way, or to claim that technology is “bad.” (Straight up, the only folks who think that are . . . well, old people.)

With all of that said, what is this book about? And why should you read it? Simply put, this book is designed to be an internet “survival guide.” In this book, you’ll find everything you need to know to be a successful digital citizen (and if you’re wondering what that is, take a peek at chapter 1). Today’s internet might seem pretty simple: hop online, chat with friends, watch videos, do your homework . . . but the internet—-and technology more broadly—-is much messier than you might realize. This book is meant to teach you seven main skills, which, if you master them, will ensure that the internet never gets the better of you. In other words, you can use tech to be awesome, instead of running into trouble you later regret.

Okay, maybe I have your attention. But if I were you, I’d still be kinda skeptical: Who is this girl? And why does she get to teach me how to use the internet? Good questions. That’s what this part of the book is for. To get to know me, your internet instructor: the one, the only, the myth, the legend . . . Okay, I’m not that cool, so I’ll skip the dramatic intro—-my name is Trisha Prabhu, and I’m here to teach you how to do the internet right.

I’m originally from Illinois. I was born in Arlington Heights, which is a city in the suburbs of Chicago. My parents, Neel and Bhanu Prabhu, immigrated to the United States from India in the 1990s. A few years after they met, they got married, and in May 2000, the world was forever changed: *dramatic pause* I was born. A couple years later, we moved to the city I now call my hometown: beautiful Naperville, Illinois, another suburb of Chicago.

It was in Naperville that I first started to make friends, find interests, and, well, become who I am! Of course, my interests changed just as quickly as I did. At six, I wanted to be a queen—-and command folks to make my favorite foods all day long (I can’t lie, that’s still what I want to be . . . but I know it’s not going to happen. *Sigh*). At seven, I wanted to be an author (and will you look that—-dreams do come true!). At eight, I wanted to be a basketball player, a sport I then played competitively. I dreamed of joining the WNBA, where I hoped to play as a power forward! And at nine, I wanted to be the president of the United States. It was around that age that I started to think more critically about the world’s issues: global warming, gender equality, promoting kindness and respect. And it was then that I realized: When adults asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I didn’t really know, but I did know that whatever I did, I wanted to solve important problems. I wanted to make change. I wanted to make an impact.

And then, at ten, perhaps the most important thing to ever happen to me happened: I was introduced to the incredible world of computers and coding! For those of you who don’t know, computer programming, or “coding” as it’s more informally called, is basically the act of talking to a computer. You can almost think of it as speaking in a foreign language—-the language of computers! Whether you want to build a website dedicated to cat memes or a social media app for Michael Jordan fans, you need to be able to tell your computer what it should create—-but unfortunately, it doesn’t know any human languages. Coding is what helps bridge the gap.

Rather quickly, I fell in love with coding. Why? Well, for one, as a kid I’d always hated math (argh), and coding was the first logical, quantitative thing I really enjoyed. For another, it was so awesome to actually be able to build a piece of technology, technology that people around the world could see and use. It truly was the best feeling: I’d always end a coding session feeling powerful and engaged. In any case, it was soon pretty clear: this wasn’t going to be a hobby or a phase; it was going to be something I did for the rest of my life.

When I turned eleven, other things in my life started to change—-and unfortunately, not for the better. I found myself embroiled in “girl drama” at school—-something, I imagine, many of you might be familiar with (take it from me: it gets better). Apparently, my friends didn’t think I was “cool enough” anymore. Without warning, I found myself without real friends, support, or anyone who truly liked me for me. I’d often eat lunch with my teachers, which, apart from being super embarrassing, actually ended up being a blessing: with them, I found a lot of solace.

Unfortunately, things only got bumpier from there: My former friends started to tease and harass me—-excluding me, talking about me behind my back, and even playing tricks on me. My phone, which I’d gotten just a little while before, ended up being a big part of it: I’ll never forget the day I got a text from someone I thought was my crush. Eagerly, I responded, thrilled that they’d gotten my number—-and were texting me! I was on cloud nine . . . but I wasn’t there for long. Later that day, I learned that those texts were never actually from my crush; in fact, it’d been three girls from my school, including two of my former friends, pranking me. They seemed to think it was hilarious, but I was crushed—-and felt like an idiot. I didn’t think it could get worse, until the next day, when I arrived at school and found them showing my classmates screenshots of our texts. “She’s so lame,” I heard one girl say. “Yeah,” the girl next to her agreed. “This is literally pathetic. Did she really think he would be interested?” They all laughed. Funnily enough, when they realized I was standing there, they hastily stuffed their phones away and fell silent, masking their smiles. One even complimented me. “Wow, Trisha! I love that skirt.” The others nodded. I remember realizing: it’s not that they don’t know that what they’re doing is wrong . . . just that somehow, on a phone, it’s easier for them to be cruel, unkind, and mean.

It was a tough period for me. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way, but back then, I often felt like the world was my mirror: things people said about me stuck with me and would influence how I saw myself. I started to believe those girls—-maybe I was lame, pathetic, imperfect, and unwanted. I lost a lot of my confidence, my spirit, and the positivity that was once integral to my personality. And more than anything, I hated my phone: a constant...