www.amazon.com/author/paulbabicki
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From huffingtonpost.com
02/02/2017 11:14 am ET | Updated
Feb 02, 2017
This Anti-Bullying App Helps You
Brighten Someone’s Day In Seconds
Because we could all use some good vibes right about now.
😊
Austin Kevitch was in high school
when he first came up with the idea for an app that would allow users to send
compliments to each other anonymously. But it wasn’t until tragedy struck years
later that he decided to turn that idea into reality.
Kevitch was studying abroad in South
Africa when his friend, Oliver Pacchiana, died in a rock climbing accident.
Soon after, positive and loving messages flooded Pacchiana’s Facebook wall. The
tributes moved Kevitch deeply, and he imagined how much they would have meant
to his friend if he’d received them while he was alive.
“Just hearing one of those comments
could change your life,” said Kevitch, now 25 and the CEO of the app Brighten.
“I learned a lot about him just from what people were sharing. It was a wake-up
call that the world needs something like [Brighten].”
Today, Kevitch runs Brighten out of
Santa Monica, California, with a six-person staff. The app, downloaded
over 1 million times since its 2015 release, allows users to send out anonymous
compliments called “brightens,” although Kevitch says most people choose to
identify themselves. Users can also send a snapshot of their smile to the
person who complimented them.
Social media can be a minefield of anxiety
for many, so Kevitch has made it his mission to create a space that’s focused on
spreading positivity.
“It’s all about establishing a
positive culture,” he said. “No one is inherently bad. People just have bad
days and project that negativity onto someone else.”
Brighten
Labs, Inc.
Here’s how Brighten works.
The positivity is now spreading
through communities and classrooms, with many educators embracing the app as an
anti-bullying tool.
Lauren Naselli, a third-grade
teacher in in Bridgewater, New Jersey, began using Brighten with
co-teacher Courtney Rothkugel last year, after their principal encouraged them
to test it out with students.
Since the school uses Chromebooks,
students couldn’t work with the actual app (Brighten is currently available
only to iOS users), but Naselli came up with a low-tech way to teach the
concept.
Each day, a different group of
students received pieces of paper with hand-drawn iPhones on them. The students
would write their own “brightens” on the papers and hand them out to different
students each day.
“They loved it,” Naselli said. “It
created a warm and comfortable environment. ... Our class really lifted each
other up and supported one another.”
She reached out to Brighten to see
if there was a version of the app she could use in her classroom. Kevitch said
his team was so touched by her story that they sent Naselli’s students free
Brighten t-shirts. An Android version of the app is currently in the
works.
Naselli said she’s “super sensitive”
to bullying and was pleased to see how the Brighten-inspired activity created
class unity. “There are people with good hearts everywhere,” she said.
“And I think this app can help bring that out.”
Tim
Cannon/Brighten
Lauren Naselli’s third grade
students wrote thank you notes to the Brighten staff on homemade iPhones.
Tim Cannon, who has been friends
with Kevitch since high school, left his corporate job in Chicago to lead
Brighten’s community outreach program. He now works with more than 1,000 high
school and college students who volunteer to promote the app on their
campuses.
“To know that I’ve at least given it
my all to put something good out in the world ― I wake up every day feeling
grateful and appreciative and happy,” he said.
Brighten recently partnered with the
gun violence prevention organization Sandy Hook Promise for “Start With Hello Week,” a weeklong
effort to fight social isolation. Students in more than 1,700 schools will be
introduced to the app.
More than 20 percent of students
ages 12 to 18 report being bullied, according to a 2015 survey conducted by the Department of Education.
Anti-bullying expert Dr. Malcolm
Smith is optimistic about Brighten’s “power to use social media to do
good,” though he is hesitant to embrace the app’s anonymity feature as a way to
combat cyberbullying.
“Anytime a child can say something
positive to someone ― even if it’s someone they don’t know ― it causes a very
positive brain interaction,” Smith said of the app. “But it’s so much better
for a person’s soul to give compliments in person.”
First lady Melania Trump announced her desire to tackle online bullying
in November. Though President Donald Trump frequently engages in cyberbullying on
Twitter, Kevitch said he would gladly partner with the White House if it would
spark positive change in society at large.
“I think it’s going to benefit the
current generation of high schoolers,” Kevitch said. “Melania, if you’re
reading this, text me. Send me a Brighten compliment.”
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