Featured | By Wynona M | The WFY Magazine, September 2025
Tejasvi Manoj’s quiet revolution: a teen building a safer internet for our elders
If you spend any time with Indian families across the world, you will notice a familiar pattern. Children and grandchildren become the digital helpdesk for parents and grandparents. Passwords, strange emails, too-good-to-be-true offers, sudden pop-ups that freeze the screen, a call from someone claiming to be the bank. The routine is so common that we hardly pause to see the danger inside it. One Indian-origin teenager in Texas did pause. She refused to accept that older people must face the internet alone, and she turned that refusal into a practical solution.
Seventeen-year-old Tejasvi Manoj, from Frisco, Texas, has been named TIME’s Kid of the Year 2025 for work that sits at the crossroads of compassion and code. Her project, Shield Seniors, is built to guide people aged sixty and above through the traps of online fraud. It teaches, checks, and points users to the right reporting channels when something smells wrong. The recognition is well deserved, but the deeper story is not the trophy. It is the clarity of purpose at a time when cybercrime against older adults is soaring. (TIME)
This article is based on the brief provided to us as reference material and covers every key element in it while presenting an original narrative in simple British English.
The idea and the impact
Shield Seniors works on three simple pillars that any family can understand.
- Learn: Plain-English lessons help older adults recognise the signs of a scam. The explanations are short and practical, with examples of language and tricks that scammers use to rush or confuse people online. (TIME)
- Analyse: Users can upload suspicious emails or messages and receive an automated assessment that flags likely fraud. Just as important, the tool explains the reasoning in simple terms, which helps seniors build confidence rather than depend on someone else to judge every message. (TIME)
- Report: The site links to the appropriate public or private bodies that accept complaints, so a victim or family member is not left wondering where to go next. This step matters, because reporting creates a trail that law enforcement can act on. (TIME)
At the moment, Shield Seniors is in private preview as the team refines features and raises funds to support a wider roll-out. The current build uses a free AI engine, which keeps costs low but limits scale. The plan is to shift to a commercial platform once funding is secured, so the site can serve many more users reliably. That is a sensible engineering decision, and it is honest about the realities of building a useful public tool. (TIME)
TIME’s editors also highlighted that Tejasvi is the first Kid of the Year honouree who is simultaneously a TIME for Kids Service Star, an acknowledgement that her work blends technology with service to a community that needs it. (TIME)
Why this work is urgent
The fraud industry is growing faster than the safety net. Official numbers from recent months are unambiguous.
- In 2024, older Americans filed 147,127 complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, with losses of about 4.9 billion US dollars. That is a steep jump in both complaints and money lost compared with 2023. The average loss per victim aged sixty and above crossed 83,000 dollars, and more than 7,500 seniors reported losing over 100,000 dollars each. These figures do not include cases that went unreported out of fear or shame. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)
- The Federal Trade Commission recently flagged a surge in impersonation scams targeting older adults. One striking datapoint is the eight-fold rise since 2020 in the combined losses of seniors who each lost over 100,000 dollars to these schemes. (Federal Trade Commission)
- Internet use among older adults keeps rising, which is good for connection and access but also expands the target base for criminals. Pew Research data show that nearly all Americans are online today and that smartphone dependency among those aged sixty-five plus reached 17 percent in 2024. A growing share of seniors manage daily tasks on mobile screens, where fast-moving prompts and small warnings can be missed. (Pew Research Center)
These are not abstract charts. They translate into life savings drained, health bills unpaid, and families thrown into stress. They also explain why a tool that teaches and checks in one place is more than a student project. It meets a real need.
A teenager’s path to public service
There is a reason this story resonates with diaspora families. Many of us carry the memory of grandparents who trust people easily. Tejasvi turned that insight into steady work. Her route has the feel of a balanced school life yet is anchored in service.
- She started coding in middle school, added cybersecurity classes, and joined youth programmes that build STEM skills. (TIME)
- She earned an honourable mention in the 2024 Congressional App Challenge, a signal that her early prototypes had substance. (TIME)
- In 2025, she delivered a TEDx talk in Plano on building digital bridges so that support reaches populations who often get left behind. (TIME)
- Community ties run through her week. She is active in Scouting America, plays violin in her school orchestra, tutors Bhutanese refugees in maths and English through Vibha, and serves on the North Texas Food Bank Young Advocates Council. That last commitment puts her alongside other teenagers who raise funds, advocate on hunger issues, and support local food security campaigns. (TIME)
Looking ahead, she plans to major in computer science with a minor in AI or cybersecurity, an academic path that fits the work she has already begun. (TIME)
What Shield Seniors adds to the safety toolbox
Plenty of resources exist, and families should keep using them. The FBI’s IC3 accepts online complaints and shares advisories on common scams. The FTC publishes guides on recognising and reporting fraud. Banks and community groups run workshops. Shield Seniors does not replace any of this. It stitches together three everyday needs for older users and their families in one place.
- Clarity: Lessons focus on the most common tricks, the tell-tale pressure tactics, and the small details that often reveal a fake message.
- Convenience: The analysis tool reduces the “is this safe” dilemma that lands on grandchildren at odd hours, and it starts a learning cycle for the senior user.
- Continuity: The reporting step pushes victims toward the right channels instead of leaving them frozen or embarrassed.
The site’s visual design respects the audience. Larger fonts, a calm colour theme, and short explanations reduce friction and anxiety. These choices matter. Seniors, like all of us, learn better when the design invites them in rather than overwhelms them. (TIME)
The scale of the problem, with numbers that matter
- Overall cybercrime losses across the United States hit 16.6 billion dollars in 2024, even as the total number of complaints dipped slightly, a sign that scams are becoming more expensive per victim. Older adults carried a heavy share of the damage. (Axios)
- In FTC’s latest spotlight on impersonation scams, seniors were not only targeted more often, they were far more likely to report very large losses, including the eight-fold growth in the combined total of six-figure losses noted earlier. (Federal Trade Commission)
- Technology habits among older people have shifted. More seniors rely on smartphones as their primary or only route to the internet, which increases exposure during banking, shopping, or messaging. The data on smartphone dependency among those aged sixty-five plus illustrates this trend. (Pew Research Center)
For readers in India and across the diaspora, these patterns echo local experience as well.
While the United States produces detailed age-cut scam data, Indian banks and cyber cells also report high volumes of UPI fraud, investment traps, and tech-support cons. Families split across countries face an extra layer of risk because support is remote and time zones do not match. A tool that teaches seniors to spot red flags and explain why they are red is valuable in any geography.
A lineage of young innovators
TIME created the Kid of the Year platform to celebrate practical ideas from the youngest minds. In 2020, the first recipient was Gitanjali Rao, a scientist-inventor from Colorado whose work ranged from water testing to anti-bullying tech. That choice set a template: recognise young people who mix curiosity with public value. Tejasvi’s work fits squarely within that frame, with a focus on digital safety for elders. (TIME)
What families and community groups can do now
1) Start with a simple home checklist.
Create a shared list for older relatives with the basic rules: never move money based on a message or call, always confirm with a known family number, and never share one-time passcodes. Keep bank and government contact numbers handy. Use a password manager and enable two-factor authentication on email and banking.
2) Practise together once a month.
Pick one weekend to review recent messages, unsubscribe from junk, update devices, and check privacy settings. This habit matters more than any single tip.
3) Use layered tools.
Combine the training-and-checking approach of platforms like Shield Seniors with device-level protections such as call filtering, DNS filters, and browser warnings. Encourage seniors to run messages they are unsure about through a checker before they act. (TIME)
4) Normalise reporting.
Fraud is a crime, not a personal failure. Help older relatives file complaints on ic3.gov and with their banks or local authorities. Reporting helps the next person. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)
5) Build a buddy system.
If you live abroad, nominate a relative or trusted neighbour near the senior’s home for quick checks. In diaspora communities, faith groups and associations can pair volunteers with elders who live alone.
6) Treat large payments as a two-person decision.
Agree that any transfer above a set amount will wait for a second pair of eyes. Delays save money.
7) Use the right tone.
Online fraud preys on fear and urgency. Family support should do the opposite. Speak slowly, be patient, and let older relatives act with dignity. Learning sticks when it is not tied to embarrassment.
A note for investors and builders
Public-interest tech often struggles with funding. Shield Seniors’ current use of a free AI engine keeps the door open while the team raises support to scale. If you are part of a CSR programme, a grant-making body, or a foundation that backs digital safety work, there is a chance here to fund a specific, measurable, community-facing platform. The needs are clear. The user group is well defined. The usage can be tracked without harvesting personal data. A small investment can unlock a wider launch that is already designed for the right audience. (TIME)
Why this story belongs in a diaspora magazine
Diaspora families have always balanced distance and duty. We celebrate grades, careers, and new homes in faraway cities, yet our hearts remain tied to parents and grandparents who taught us the basics of trust. The internet has given our elders new ways to pray with their congregations, watch the news from back home, and speak to grandchildren every evening. It has also brought a steady drizzle of fraud risks to their screens.
A teenager from our broad community chose to treat that risk as a design problem. She broke it down into steps, built a tool, tested it in living rooms and assisted-living centres, and kept service at the core. Awards are a brief moment. The work is what will last.
Tejasvi Manoj’s rise is not about precocious brilliance alone. It is about focus on the person at the other end of the screen. Shield Seniors teaches, checks, and shows where to report. It gives older people a way to keep their independence online without leaning on a relative for every judgement call. For the Indian diaspora, this is a model worth adopting and supporting.
We can make the internet kinder to our elders if we combine small family habits with tools shaped for their needs.
TIME’s selection this year makes sense. It recognises a young builder who treats technology as a public service and who has the patience to work with older adults one conversation at a time. That is the kind of leadership our communities need.
Sources for key facts
- TIME cover story confirming 2025 Kid of the Year, Shield Seniors features, private-preview status, and Service Star distinction. (TIME)
- TIME press note announcing the 2025 selection and the Service Stars link-up. (TIME)
- FBI IC3 data on 2024 elder fraud complaints, total losses, and average loss per victim. (Internet Crime Complaint Center)
- FTC Data Spotlight on the growth of large impersonation-scam losses among older adults. (Federal Trade Commission)
- Pew Research fact sheet indicating near-universal internet use and smartphone dependency figures, including the 65-plus cohort. (Pew Research Center)
- TIME’s 2020 Kid of the Year profile for historical context. (TIME)
Photo courtesy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tejasvi-manoj
Disclaimer: This article has been written in original words for The WFY Magazine, using publicly available reports and official statistics as of 11 September 2025. It intentionally avoids reproducing direct statements or quotations from third parties. Any external figures cited are attributed to their publishers. The piece is intended for general information and community awareness, not for legal or financial advice.