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Teen creates earring that snaps pictures and alerts police in the event of an assault

The South African teen is helping address the high volume of gender-based violence in her country.

Photo credit: Canva

Teen creates earring that snaps pictures and alerts police in event of an assault

Gender-based violence is a problem in countries across the globe, but is especially prevalent in South Africa. While laws and societal views are slowly shifting towards making women feel more comfortable reporting assaults, people have been trying to find ways to mitigate the harm. In 2015, four college students invented color-changing nail polish to help detect the presence of "date-rape drugs" in drinks. A 16-year-old girl and her brother invented a hair scrunchie that doubles as a drink cover to prevent drinks from being spiked.

Bohlale Mphahlele of Limpopo, South Africa, is joining the list of young people thinking outside the box to help keep women safe. At just 16 years old, she decided to do something to help women identify their attackers while also getting them help faster. The SJ van der Merwe Technical High School student created an earpiece that fits on the ear like an earring, except it's not. The device is multiple things in one, designed not only to help collect photographic evidence of an assaulter but also to help prevent human trafficking.

safety; gender-based violence; safety invention; human trafficking; domestic violence; teen inventors Contemplative moment at the bar.Photo credit: Canva

There's a lot of tech packed into that small earring-like device, and all of it will assist in keeping women as safe as possible. According to the 2024 South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council report, more than one in three women of the 5,603 women who participated in the study reported experiencing sexual or physical violence within their lifetime. Just like many women in America don't report assaults due to stigma or fear of not being believed, the same is true for the women in South Africa. Mphahlele is throwing them a lifeline.

The device, aptly named the Alerting Earpiece, is designed to operate with a simple, discreet press of a button. Fiddling with an earring wouldn't be abnormal in any situation. The button being easily accessible in that manner will allow wearers to press it without suspicion. What happens after they push the Alerting Earpiece can be lifesaving.

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It acts as a wearable panic device, not only alerting trusted, pre-selected people that you need help, but also alerting law enforcement. The faux earring sends your live GPS location and silently captures photos of the assailant through the tiny front-facing camera. All of that is jam-packed into something that can fit on someone's ear. The camera will provide crucial evidence that can be lacking in these situations, especially if the attacker gets away. The GPS will also enable police to receive the alert in real-time, which can be a game-changer in terms of timeline.

safety; gender-based violence; safety invention; human trafficking; domestic violence; teen inventors Friends enjoying drinks and conversation at a cozy bar.Photo credit: Canva

According to Uzalendo News, judges praised the teen's invention, awarding her the bronze medal at the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists. Mphahlele explains to the same outlet, "that the rise in reported cases of abuse, especially among women and young girls, inspired her to think about practical safety solutions." She emphasized that "technology should be used not just for convenience but to protect the vulnerable."

safety; gender-based violence; safety invention; human trafficking; domestic violence; teen inventors Left: Elegant earring. Right: Bartender pours drinks.Photo credit: Canva

The invention is making waves across South Africa, with the Limpopo Department of Education praising the prototype, and calls from Education Member of the Executive Council Polly Boshielo for investments to enable the device to be mass-produced. The teen isn't standing idly by; she is also actively seeking investors, partnerships, and technical support to refine the device and bring it to consumers, according to iOL.

This clever invention could save lives across the globe and give victims of violent crime a fighting chance at justice.

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What does anxiety feel like? These 12 haunting photos sum it up.

This article originally appeared on 11.21.16

Photographer Katie Joy Crawford had been battling anxiety for 10 years when she decided to face it straight on by turning the camera lens on herself.

In 2015, Upworthy shared Crawford's self-portraits and our readers responded with tons of empathy. One person said, "What a wonderful way to express what words cannot." Another reader added, "I think she hit the nail right on the head. It's like a constant battle with yourself. I often feel my emotions battling each other."

So we wanted to go back and talk to the photographer directly about this soul-baring project.

It was Crawford's senior year in college. She decided to make herself the central subject of her thesis. She became determined to realistically capture the crippling effects of her anxiety with her "My Anxious Heart" photo series.

"I just firmly believe that the stigma with mental illness needs to be eliminated," Crawford says.

She hopes the series will help others who may be struggling with anxiety. She wants people to know they're not alone.

These haunting photos are also meant to encourage those suffering with anxiety to reach out to others who perhaps don't understand what anxiety feels like. The more we can understand each other, the more we can help each other out.

Here again are Crawford's 12 poignant self-portraits and captions that show what anxiety feels like for her:

1. "They keep telling me to breathe. I can feel my chest moving up and down. Up and down. Up and down. But why does it feel like I'm suffocating? I hold my hand under my nose, making sure there is air. I still can't breathe."

All images by Katie Joy Crawford, featured with permission.

2. "My head is filling with helium. Focus is fading. Such a small decision to make. Such an easy question to answer. My mind isn't letting me. It's like a thousand circuits are all crossing at once."

3. "It's strange — in the pit of your stomach. It's like when you're swimming and you want to put your feet down but the water is deeper than you thought. You can't touch the bottom and your heart skips a beat."

4. "You were created for me and by me. You were created for my seclusion. You were created by venomous defense. You are made of fear and lies. Fear of unrequited promises and losing trust so seldom given. You've been forming my entire life. Stronger and stronger."

5. "A glass of water isn't heavy. It's almost mindless when you have to pick one up. But what if you couldn't empty it or set it down? What if you had to support its weight for days … months … years? The weight doesn't change, but the burden does. At a certain point, you can't remember how light it used to seem. Sometimes it takes everything in you to pretend it isn't there. And sometimes, you just have to let it fall."

6. "A captive of my own mind. The instigator of my own thoughts. The more I think, the worse it gets. The less I think, the worse it gets. Breathe. Just breathe. Drift. It'll ease soon."

—7. "I'm afraid to live and i'm afraid to die. What a way to exist."

8. "I was scared of sleeping. I felt the most raw panic in complete darkness. Actually, complete darkness wasn't scary. It was that little bit of light that would cast a shadow — a terrifying shadow."

9. "No matter how much I resist, it'll always be right here desperate to hold me, cover me, break down with me. Each day I fight it, “You're not good for me and you never will be." But there it is waiting for me when I wake up and eager to hold me as I sleep. It takes my breath away. It leaves me speechless."

10. "Depression is when you can't feel at all. Anxiety is when you feel too much. Having both is a constant war within your own mind. Having both means never winning."

11. "Cuts so deep it's like they're never going to heal. Pain so real, it's almost unbearable. I've become this … this cut, this wound. All I know is this same pain; sharp breath, empty eyes, shaky hands. If it's so painful, why let it continue? Unless … maybe it's all that you know."

12. "Numb feeling. How oxymoronic. How fitting. Can you actually feel numb? Or is it the inability to feel? Am I so used to being numb that i've equated it to an actual feeling?"

"I've had a lot of people say that my photographs are too beautiful for what anxiety actually is. That's OK to feel that way, I think they are too! I didn't set out to make it look like the monster I felt," Crawford says. "I wanted clean and simple explanations. I wanted them to almost look numbing, because that's where I was."

Crawford goes to therapy once a week. And she's not ashamed of that. She's also not ashamed to admit that she sits in her car each time, deciding whether she'll attend her appointment or not.

She ultimately does go in and feels better every time. "It's like this thing you've been battling alone is finally being defeated in some way," Crawford says.

The process of creating these deeply literal photographs helped Crawford identify her fear and figure out what led to her anxiety attacks. Although she didn't realize it at the time, she was developing new coping skills even while shooting these self-portraits.

It's important to understand that everyone is struggling with something. We're never alone, no matter how lonely we feel.

"Get help. Always get help," Crawford says. "There are so many resources out there. There is no reason to be ashamed that you need help. If mental illness was treated like physical illness, there would be no more stigma."

By putting her struggles with anxiety out there for the world to see, Crawford is able to help others. She says that feeling alone has changed the way she lives her life.

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Culture

Stop sharing the 'I'm in a mental hospital' Facebook post. It's not funny—it's harmful

Volkan Olmez/Unsplash

People love Facebook posts that invite them to create silly lists of their friends and family members, and most of the time, it's all in good fun. But a "mental hospital" post that keeps circulating is nowhere near good fun, and it needs to go away, now.

The post begins, "This is Hilarious!" before telling people to follow the directions to fill the following list with Facebook friends' names:

"I'm in a mental hospital

My roommate:

Licks the glass:

Helps me escape:

My psychiatrist:

Asleep in the corner:

Shouts at everyone:

Padded room occupant:

Kicks the nurse:

Believes they are a unicorn:

Sneaks in the alcohol:

The end of the version I saw read, "That was fun!" and "Sometimes you need some mindless humor!"

This post is mindless, but it definitely shouldn't be considered humor.

For anyone who struggles with mental illness or who has loved ones who do, this post is hurtful, not humorous. It portrays problematic ideas about people who are mentally ill and makes light of a serious issue that millions of people face. Being in a mental hospital isn't a joke or something to make light of—it may actually be a life-saving move for some people. Posts like this just reinforce harmful stigmas about mental illness that keep people from getting seeking the treatment they need.

RELATED: A huge thanks to those who openly share their mental illnesses. You saved my daughter.

Jen Simon, a writer who has written extensively about mental health issues, shared the screenshot of the post on Facebook with names crossed out. "This is not hilarious," she wrote. Simon lost her sister to chronic depression in 2018, after a years-long battle with mental health ended in suicide.

If you don't see how the Facebook post is distasteful on its face, look at it through the eyes of someone who has lost a loved one to mental illness. So painful. But when Simon raised her concerns with the post, she was admonished by the woman who had shared it. She was "told not to take it personally," because she hadn't even been tagged in it.

"It made me think of the scene in You've Got Mail," says Simon, "when Tom Hanks said, 'It's not personal,' and Meg Ryan replies, 'It's not personal to YOU—it is to me.' The rest of my life will be defined by the shadow of mental illness and suicide. Regardless of the author's intent, for those of us who suffer or watch our loved ones suffer, it sure as hell feels personal."

Kimberly Zapata, founder of Greater Than Illness, a non-profit organization that aims to empower children and youth struggling with mental illness, found the post infuriating. She says that instead of making jokes about mental illness, we should be talking about how we can improve mental health.

"The problem with remarks and 'jokes' like this is not only that they perpetuate negative—and in many cases, untrue—stereotypes. It is that these stereotypes often keep people from getting help," says Zapata. "For example, no one wants to be seen as the 'crazy' person screaming and mumbling incoherent obscenities in the corner."

"What's more," she adds, "these stereotypes convince people that mental illness has a 'look,' and if one does not fit into the so-called mold, they are not really sick — and that is just as dangerous, as many ignore or disregard their symptoms because they are not 'that bad.'"

RELATED: States are starting to require mental health classes for all students. It's about dang time.

We have come pretty far in reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness, and posts like this send us backwards. When we know better, we do better—and we need to do better than share things that cause harm because we don't see the problem and think it's "all in good fun."

There are times and places for finding humor in mental health struggles, such as when people with anxiety or OCD joke and laugh together over their shared experiences. But such humor should take place within a supportive community, not come from outside in a way that pokes fun or dismisses or pushes stereotypes. That kind of joking spreads harm to people who are already dealing with enough, which is why we need to stop circulating these kinds of posts immediately.

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Samuel Bardwell had a bad anxiety attack, so his father took him to the emergency room.

Samuel was playing basketball when he noticed the signs of an impending attack. He had been prescribed an as-needed anti-anxiety medication, but he didn't have any on-hand.

And as his symptoms got worse — vomiting, loss of consciousness — it was clear he needed medical intervention.

Samuel was seeking medical help for a diagnosed condition, but the emergency room physician humiliated him.

According to Samuel's father, Donald Bardwell, when the physician walked in, she didn't introduce herself, ask what was wrong, or perform an examination — instead, she immediately began ranting about Bardwell's condition and his reasons for being there. All the while, Samuel begged her for medication.

At one point, the Bardwells say, the physician's rhetoric became racist: Donald and Samuel are black and the doctor — now identified as Beth Keegstra of El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos, California — accused them of seeking drugs. That's when the elder Bardwell began filming.

It got worse, with Keegstra swearing at Samuel, then twisting his words to claim he'd asked for "narcotics," when all he'd done was ask for something — anything — that could help him feel better.

"You [Samuel] are the least sick of all the people who are here, who are dying. So you put your head up," Keegstra can be heard saying in the video. "Don't try to tell me you can't move. Come on. Sit up."

Anxiety attacks can be incredibly scary — and reaching out for help often isn't easy.

If you've never had an anxiety attack, here's what you need to know: They can be terrifying and are almost impossible to control. One second, you can feel your heart start pumping a little faster, and the next, you're struggling to breathe and feeling you'll soon perish of a heart attack or an embolism you never knew you had.

These attacks aren't dangerous in themselves (in fact, they can't actually kill you), but in the moment, when it feels like both your mind and your body are conspiring against you, it's hard to even tell what's real anymore.

As someone who's experienced many anxiety attacks — and has been to the emergency room several times fearing legitimate heart attacks — I can tell you that there's nothing you need more than a physician who's understanding.

Keegstra was suspended after the Bardwells posted the video of her berating them, but that's only a temporary measure. If there's one thing this video makes clear, it's how difficult it can be to get help for mental illness. And that's why so many people hide it.

Those who live with mental illness already know that friends and family can be slow to understand what it's like to experience anxiety and depression. But a physician treating a patient in crisis like this is a painful reminder of why it's so hard to reach out for help.

After all, if someone whose job it is is to take care of you thinks you're faking, what's the point of speaking out?

Samuel's experience with this doctor is a reminder there's still a long way to go in mental health care.

At a time when mental illness is becoming less of a taboo topic, it's on all of us to be more kind, more compassionate, and more understanding — and to fight against stigma.

And once you watch the full video below, I think you'll agree: We need to do better.

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Please don't say these 11 terrible things to someone with a mental illness.

I know I've said things to my daughter about her anxiety that were immensely unhelpful.

And though I've apologized, I cringe thinking about how many more times she's going to have to hear unintentionally hurtful things about her mental health struggles.

Those of us who don't deal with mental health issues can sometimes stick our collective foot in our mouth. Big time.

It's only through years of talking about my daughter's experiences and observing it firsthand that I've learned how little I understood about mental illness. I've seen how well-meaning comments can totally miss the mark and how alienating such comments can be for those on the receiving end.

Lifestyle reporter Hattie Gladwell created a hashtag — #ThingsPeopleHaveSaidAboutMyMentalIllness — to highlight some of the ridiculous things people say to those struggling with mental health issues.

Gladwell posted a tweet asking people to share the most unhelpful or insensitive thing people have said about their mental illness, starting with her own example:

1. "One person told me I didn't need medication, I just needed to be more motivated."

— (@)

The responses are incredibly telling of just how many misconceptions there are about mental illness.

2. "You don't look like you're mentally ill."

Image via That Girl With BPD/Twitter.

Because you can see inside someone's mind with your eyeballs? What?

3. "When you have a job and a family, all these thoughts will disappear."

Image via Elle/Twitter.

I am 100% certain that adding a job and a family on top of mental health issues is not a cure. For real.

4. "You have too much money to have anything wrong with you."

Image via Alice/Twitter.

Mental illness crosses all economic lines. You can't necessarily buy your way out of it.

5. "There is nothing wrong with you."

Image via Chazie/Twitter.

First, do you tell people with a missing limb that they're faking it and trying to get attention?

And second, depression isn't a contagious disease. For the love of...

6. "Weren't you taking meds?"

Image via Anne Greif/Twitter.

When it comes to medication and mental illness, you can't win for losing. People will tell you that you don't need meds. Then they'll tell you that you do need them. Then they'll question why you haven't miraculously been cured by them already.

People need to understand that medication is a management tool, not a cure-all, and that finding the right medication is like solving a complex puzzle with lots of moving parts. (Not to mention the struggle of finding the right therapist.)

7. "Have you tried praying away your depression?"

Image via Alisa/Twitter.

We don't tell people to pray away diabetes or heart disease or a broken bone. It makes just as little sense to tell someone to pray away their mental illness.

8. "So you're just superstitious?"

Image via Lydia/Twitter.

It's natural for people to try to relate with things they can understand, but making reaches such as these is just silly.

All of us have felt nervous, but that doesn't mean we truly understand clinical anxiety. All of us have felt down, but that doesn't mean we understand clinical depression.

9. "Have you ever thought about how there are people who have it much worse than you do?"

Image via Mika/Twitter.

Mental illness is not a product of selfishness. We can acknowledge and empathize with others while also going through our own stuff at the same time.

10. "It's attention seeking."

Image via Juliette Burton/Twitter.

A cornucopia of insensitivity!

But seriously, "I wish I was anorexic"? No, you really, really, really don't.

11. "Positive thinking is the key to battling depression."

— (@)

(sigh) ... Sometimes truly all you can do is respond with sarcasm: #LiterallyNeverOccurredToMe.

The responses to this hashtag hold an important message: We all need to better our understanding of what people with mental health issues have to deal with all the time.

I'm not an innocent party here. I know I've said things that were unhelpful, and though it was always from a place of caring and concern, that intent didn't trump the impact of my words.

It's hard to understand something you've never experienced. And we need to acknowledge the fact that people with mental illnesses are experiencing something those of us without mental illnesses can't completely relate to.

But that doesn't mean we can't do our best to find out what actually is helpful to say.

Often times, a simple, empathetic, "I'm sorry you're going through this" or "Is there anything I can do to help?" — or simply listening without saying anything — is the best thing we can do.

Stigma hurts.

But if we all take time to learn about mental illnesses we don't understand and strive to help those who are struggling to feel supported and loved without judgment or shame, the world will be a kinder place.

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ABC's Ginger Zee candidly, courageously opened up about her suicide attempt.

Warning: Suicide is discussed in this article.

Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Hearst.

Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist at ABC News, knows most viewers only see her through her done-up, smiley, scripted appearances on "Good Morning America." Her new book aims to change that.

“This is the anti-Instagram book,” the on-air personality told People magazine, noting it won't present her life story in a polished, picture-perfect way. "I’m so worried, because there’s still a part of me thinking, 'Oh gosh, this is a lot to tell people.'"

In her book, "Natural Disaster: I Cover Them. I Am One," the 36-year-old opens up about her battles with mental illness going back several years.

Zee was 21 years old, fresh out of college, and living with a former boyfriend when she attempted suicide.

Fortunately, the amount and combination of drugs she swallowed wasn't lethal. After being admitted to the hospital, however, she was diagnosed with depression.

Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for Women's Health Magazine.

“I’d lost all hope,” Zee told People. “I just shut down. [Life] wasn’t worth living. I was wasting people’s time and space.”

In retrospect, Zee attributes her suicide attempt at least in part to being newly diagnosed with narcolepsy and ill-prepared to handle a medication's powerful effects; her senses had been heightened — emotional highs were very high, and emotional lows were very low.

Regardless, her mental health desperately needed to be addressed. As depression is one of the most common types of mental illness, Zee understood she wasn't alone. In 2015, about 16.1 million American adults experienced at least one major depressive episode in the past year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

As the Mayo Clinic pointed out, there are various medical reasons why people experience depression, from a person's genetic makeup to brain chemistry and hormonal imbalances. External factors like stress and trauma can also contribute, research has found.

"It’s scary, the way your mind can overpower what is real and what is right," Zee said. "Now as a mother, to think that that could be my child? That is frightening.”

Zee (right) and her husband, Ben Aaron. Photo by Paul Zimmerman/Getty Images for Women's Health.

Zee's life with depression has been an ongoing journey. In 2011, 10 days before starting her lucrative new gig at ABC News, Zee checked herself into a medical facility in New York City, sensing her mental health was spiraling. She didn't want her career and personal life to suffer.

“I realize, too, that just because I’ve been in a good place for six years and I’ve gotten myself to a much healthier mental state ... I don’t think that I’m cured,” Zee told People. “I don’t think anybody’s forever cured."

Now, she's decided to share her story so that others know the best thing they can do is express and address what they're feeling internally: "Being aware of [depression], sharing it, talking about it — this is where I hope that the healing happens.”

Need help? Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

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Before she became a Broadway great, Audra McDonald survived a suicide attempt.

Content warning: discussion of suicidal thoughts and actions.

Audra McDonald is one of the greatest performers of our time. Full stop.

A venerated actress, spellbinding singer, and consummate performer, McDonald is a six-time Tony Award winner, the most of any individual, and the only person to earn the coveted trophy in all four acting categories. To say nothing of her television and film roles and her resistance-ready Twitter account, this is a woman with some serious talent.

But like many great performers, McDonald's path to success wasn't easy.

McDonald, center, and the cast of "Shuffle Along, or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed" perform onstage during the Tony Awards. Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions.

The Broadway great joined Alec Baldwin on his podcast, "Here's The Thing," to talk about her rise to fame and the detour that almost ended it all.

McDonald grew up in Fresno, California, and started college at Juilliard, a world-renowned performing arts school, in New York in 1988. She chose to study classical music and operatic singing, hoping to also take classes in dance and drama too, but soon learned her intense course of study wouldn't allow for it.

"I felt lost, completely lost," she told Baldwin.

Her lack of fulfillment coupled with the pressure of being the young woman from her hometown who was supposed to "make it" weighed heavily on her. One night, it was all too much.

In the winter of her third year, McDonald slit her wrists. She quickly called the Student Affairs Director, who helped get her to Gracie Square Hospital, a psychiatric facility in the city. She noticed a few other Juilliard students there too.

"I was [at the hospital] for a month," she said. "They evaluated me and said, 'You're not going any time soon.'"

McDonald took a year off school to recuperate and later took on a role in "The Secret Garden." She returned to Juilliard and graduated in 1993. The rest, as they say, is history ... and awards from the president.

McDonald received the 2015 National Medal of Arts in September 2016. Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images.

McDonald's story reminds us depression is a monster that can be tamed, but not one that easily goes away.

Baldwin seemed surprised to learn of McDonald's depression, given the strength and confidence she has onstage. She credits that experience and her passion for art for helping her find joy and strength in dark moments.

"I realized I'm someone who suffers from depression but I learned in the years: A. how to deal with it, B. to find my joy, and C. to realize that like alcoholism, it's something you wake up every day and you say, 'Yeah that's still something I have to deal with.'"

McDonald and Neil Patrick Harris perform onstage at the Tony Awards. Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions.

That's why she's so transparent about her experience with suicide and living with mental illness.

She speaks freely about that time now, knowing it could save someone else's life. "I'm open about it because I think I'm a case of 'it gets better,'" she said.

In a fitting epilogue, Gracie Square Hospital stands right next to the OB-GYN practice McDonald attended while pregnant with her now-10-month-old daughter. The full-circle moment wasn't lost on her.

"Every time I passed it, there was a part of me just, you know, waddling down the street pregnant as can be some 29 years later. I felt such relief and joy and a sense of 'Yes, I get the big picture now.'"

McDonald and Norm Lewis join the cast to take a bow during the curtain call at "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess" on opening night. Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images.

Depression, suicidal ideation, and other mental health concerns can affect anyone, at any time. But there is hope.

If you or someone you care about is having a difficult time, it's OK to ask for help from a trusted friend, teacher, counselor, or your doctor. In an emergency, you can always call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800-273-8255. There is help. There is hope.

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