What is bullying? Words, or actions that hurt people? Bullying has evolved over the years, more than most people know. It wasn’t too long ago that words spread over the internet were seen as a form of bullying.

Bullying is seen everywhere, or so it seems. What we don’t see are the words that aren’t said. Backhanded compliments have been around “forever”. People saying things like, “I wish that I was confident enough to wear that in public.” And “It’s so nice that you aren’t obsessed with how you look.” These though not seen exactly as bullying are truly hurtful comments for the victims that can see through the thin veil of kindness.

But over the years the hidden bullying has become both less secretive yet more secretive at the same time. These statement are no longer covered by that kind veil that they have previously hidden behind. Take the current teenage generation. Teen girls will call each other b****es and s***s in jest. This causes the no longer hidden insults to become even more hidden than it has before.

Nowadays you can get away with saying anything as long as you say “jk” or “lol” at the end of your sentence. This allows people to get away with bullying that isn’t even hidden. It doesn’t even take much anymore to read between the lines and see that these “jks” and “lols” are just escape routes that allow bullying to sink back into its hole of aninimity!