Detroit native's startup social media platform Inpathy hopes to help people be themselves

FOX 2 - Ziarekenya Smith was excelling in the field of digital art design, but the Detroit native wanted more.

"The success was good, the money was good (but) it was no longer feeding me," he said.

Smith admits family and friends doubted him, creating his own feelings of anxiety he wanted to share on social media - but was too afraid of the response.

"I asked myself why is that? Because life is a series of peaks and valleys," he said.

Research shows 69 percent of adults use social media and 81 percent of teens, which really puts a large amount of the population at risk. We're talking about anxiety, depressions, even being physically sick from social media.

"These days it is harder to get your content out in front of actual people," said Harding Fears.

"I just don't like that it is not reality," said Amelia Fears. "It's everyone's highlight reel. It causes alot of issues behind the scenes like with high schoolers and vulnerable populations, like comparing their lives comparing what they do, and do not have."

With all of that in mind, Ziarekenya is in the process of creating a new social media platform - called "Inpathy."

Ziarekenya Smith

The Detroit-based tech startup hopes to inspire people to be themselves as they get to know others on the app, share their own personal experiences, and speak freely on a safe social network - where bullying, racism, and hate speech is not allowed.

In fact, if any of those user comments are detected, you would be banned from Inpathy.

"Facebook, Instagram, (I'm) not trying to replace them, they deserve to be in the ecosystem," he said. "Inpathy is here to balance things out."

Ziarekenya says he would love to launch Inpathy by fall, but will need more funding to do it. He has a crowdfunding page HERE.