Our Inspiration

Our initial inspiration for creating The Choice App was our family and friends. As teenagers in high school, we experienced first-hand all types of pressure from other kids. Some of us had a strong support from family and we were comfortable discussing our issues and concerns openly with people we trusted. Others of us didn’t have the exact same comfort and were left having to work out confusing situations on their own.

Now that we’re older, we expected not to see those types of scenarios. However, we are now seeing them happening to our sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, cousins and even little brothers and sisters. And we also noticed that times are moving quicker and these same types of pressures are coming up at younger ages.

The pressures have traveled to middle schools and kids are having adult questions being brought into their lives. Because of this, many teens feel the pressure to have sex before they are ready. We saw a study (on Psychology Today link) that showed that almost 63 percent of teens believe that it is a good idea to wait to have sex, however far less percent actually do.

This is where our inspiration came from. We began trying to figure out why teens still gave into the pressures of sex, even when they believe it’s a good idea not to. What kept us from giving into the same peer pressure? It is significantly harder to not give into peer pressure when your friends are the ones trying to convince you.

That is exactly why we decided to create The Choice App. We wanted to create a support system for those that have nowhere else to turn. Whether it’s because their friends are doing the pressuring, their parents are preoccupied with work or they are just uncomfortable asking questions of this topic, this app can be used as an outlet to find information and (more importantly) strength.

Most teens and young adults start out as firm believers in “waiting”. Whether that means waiting for marriage or waiting until they are old enough to make such an adult decision. As teens grow up, their firm beliefs begin to weaken as obstacles arise. For some, the pressure becomes too much and they make a decision that they weren’t ready for. We want to create a tool these same teens can use to strengthen their beliefs. A tool they can use to remind themselves of why they were choosing to wait to begin with. A tool that can relate to them and inspire them at the same time.

So whether you can find use in our app or know a friend or family member that it might benefit, help us spread the word. We want to make sure that every pressured teen out there knows that no matter how tough it gets, “You are not alone.”