menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Tom Purcell: How social media and AI changed bullying

18 0
20.10.2026

Technology has enabled a new breed of bullying, and it’s nastier than ever.

Bullying transformation

In 1972, when I was 10, Franky Leper busted my handmade go-cart into pieces, then shoved me into the mud.

Leper was in his teens, then — a big, fat, man-sized kid — and I stood no chance.

But my older sister, Kris — then 5 feet tall and 90 pounds — was so angry at what she saw that she tackled him to the pavement and pounded on him with her fists until he blubbered like a baby.

Everyone was so shocked by his beating that his bullying career ended that day.

Throughout millennia, bullies have typically been larger kids who invoked fear in everyone else.

Psychologist Dan Olweus found that traditional bullies usually weren’t insecure kids with low self-esteem. They were kids who liked power, enjoyed being in control and bullied for the simple reason that they enjoyed how it made them feel.

The only way to get them to leave you alone, generally, was to win their respect by fighting back — or having an older sibling do so.

Today, however, the bully doesn’t need size to invoke fear — all he or she needs is an iPhone.

Tech-enabled bullying

According to CNN, 14-year-old Adriana Kuch was beaten in a New Jersey school hallway. Classmates filmed it and posted the video online. Her father said the relentless comments........

© The Saratogian