Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider. It is likely that the most damaging forms of bullying are often taken less seriously by teachers. After all, surreptitiously effective bullying through name calling, threats and extortion, is less obvious that a bloodied nose, pulled hair and loose teeth. E-MAIL is made for quick hits of a verbal kind. This is the new bullying and it is beginning to be researched and understood as being particularly damaging.
Few people open their computer's in box expecting to be given a screen full of abuse.
Yet this is what is the lot for a growing number of students. Now bullies can intimidate, criticise and harass, with at least the sense of distance and sometimes anonymity. Moreover, it can be done from home and not just in the classroom. Two Melbourne based psychologists, Jenny Ricketts and Joan Beckwith, told the Australian Psychological Society's conference in Melbourne last month that bullying through technology was increasing, particularly in girls' schools. They found the techniques used were social exclusion and the freezing out of others through the use of computers.