Nobody likes a bully (恶霸). But bullying is a big problem around the world. According to a recent survey, one out of every five students in the US has been bullied.

Nathan Fellars, an eighth grader at Centennial Middle School in Utah, US, decided to do something after he saw classmates being bullied. “People often deal with bullying after the bullying has happened. I wanted to find a way to reduce (减少) bullying before it happens at all.” Fellars told the Society for Science.

After studying more about the causes of bullying, he had an idea to make the app Bully Block. On the app, students can share their lives, whether good or bad. Others can then send reviews. But before the reviews are shown, an AI program reads all of them. Only positive (积极的) reviews will be chosen. Fellars believes that this will naturally stop bullying both online and in schools.

“All we need is a mobile phone,” said Fellars, “I would love to see my project used by teachers and students. I love knowing that my invention (发明) can help somebody else in the world.”

In our culture, the ability to make one’s own decision is important. John F. Kennedy’s quote “Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” shows an unpleasant truth.

Much of what we know and believe has been taught to us by others, and we often accept this information without spending much time thinking it over for ourselves.

In today’s world, we are being presented with information, ideas and beliefs, but many of them are against each other. Psychology(心理学) tells us that if we hear an idea enough times, or it comes from someone we respect, it is probable that we believe that idea. In these cases, we base our opinions on the opinions of others. If each of us does not think about this information for ourselves and come to our own conclusions, we will become nothing more than parrots quoting the opinions of others.

Examples of spreading fake news without thought can be seen on the Internet. Some people believe anything that they read and then share the story without thinking about the facts. All it takes is one quick click of the “share” button, and the story travels on its way to affect even more unthinking readers. This can cause serious problems.

If we just stop for a moment to think about what we read and hear, and form our own opinions, we will be more thoughtful, more independent, and more creative people, but few take that time. Yet we need not lose heart over this bad habit. In fact, simply realizing it is the first step towards correcting it. Once we realize that we tend to hold opinions and beliefs without thinking them through, we can change that pattern of behavior. Hopefully, we can learn to think for ourselves and form our own opinions.