East Bay high school student develops app for people to talk about their 'alcohol stories'
DUBLIN -- School work, sports and other extra curricular activities can make high school years tough for teens, with the pressure leading some to experiment with alcohol.
According to a government survey, 3.2 million young people between the ages of 12 and 20 reported binge drinking at least once a month.
Anit Annadi is a Dublin High School Junior who founded a website and app that gives teens a safe place where they can share their personal stories related to issues with alcohol.
"My family member actually went through alcohol addiction," said Annadi.
The site MyAlcoholStory.com allows teens and others to talk about similar experiences in a judgement-free environment. People can join under an alias.
"These are all users who have posted their personal story about alcohol on the app and they appear on the feed here," explained Annadi. "Right now we have around two hundred users and around eighty people have posted their story on the app."
He says it is a way for teenagers to connect with other teens struggling with alcohol so they can help one another.
Anaadi read an excerpt of one of the posts: "So when my friend offered me alcohol at a party I said yes. It tasted disgusting. I drank more often to fit in. Soon I couldn't control my actions."
The app is monitored throughout the day and there are a list of trigger words that are red flagged when posted. The trigger words include things like meeting in person or those talking about self harm.
"We have this resources page," said Annadi, "It has a bunch of resources like Suicide Crisis Lifeline ."
He says the app and website have been a labor of love.
"Even on school days, I am up to probably one or two in the morning working on coding the app or emailing organizations to see if they can help get the word out," he said.
He says he thinks he has spent at least one hundred hours just on coding the app. His parents are proud, but want him to sleep as well.
"I wake up in the middle of the night and I tell him to go back to sleep; 'You don't have to stay up so late!" said Annadi's mother.
His friends support this open forum.
