Damned Bullies, Again

danah boyd points to yet another body of research that looks at the increasing use of technology as a bullying mechanism for young teenagers. I've covered this on several occassions (1,2,3), but this offers some new insights.

The whole article focuses on the psychology of teen bullying, about how it's so much easier to engage in such cruel behavior from a distance. [...] One thing that caught my eye was the gender differences in bullying: "Online bullying had a particular appeal for girls, who specialize in emotional rather than physical harassment and strive to avoid direct confrontation."

Source: apophenia, "teens bullying via IM and blogs"

I wonder when we will start to see more research into the adult version of this game, blackmail.