It's the age we live in and for some it's not a very pleasant age. Vile and mean-spirited people can tap away at their keyboards imparting venom to virtually anyone they don't like.
It's now a crime to deliberately harm others online but that doesn't stop them. The psychological damage done, particularly to the vulnerable young, largely goes unreported. It's usually only when someone takes their life or does self harm that the extent of cyber bullying comes to light.
John Key drew attention to it this week when he met with officials reviewing a package to review youth mental health services which was the brainchild of his science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman.
The Prime Minister said it was pretty awful out there for many young people in the so-called social media world. A better name for it would be anti-social media.
He cited the bile directed at his son Max, who last month read out on radio many of the vile messages he'd received. Key offered his boy some consoling words, saying there's half the country out there that doesn't like him and suggested to Max not to take it personally.
