So we now have laws against cyber-bullying.

The Harmful Digital Communications Bill has gone through Parliament bringing in measures to address damaging electronic communications.

It covers everything from nasty emails, malicious text messages, and mean spirited posts on social media.

The Justice Minister says it'll help prevent and reduce the potentially devastating harm caused by cyber-bullying.

I hope she's right. I'm aware of people who've been on the receiving end of some pretty vicious stuff, and it hurts.

Technology - and especially social media - have taken the kind of playground nastiness we all used to brush off into a completely new arena.

And it's not just stupid kids who do the name-calling now. Everyone's at it.

Part of the problem is that people over-share about themselves online, and this just invites criticism.

And let's be honest about it. Some online forums are no better than a cesspit of nastiness, and banality. And people who can barely string a sentence together now have access to some very public platforms. They're not edited or moderated. Is it any surprise the standard of communication is so poor?

Trolls populate these places. People with no life and nothing of value to contribute, who get a kick out of seeing their thoughts printed on a screen. And like a smutty joke in the pub: Once it starts, it feeds itself.

And anyone can read it. Your friends, your parents, your employer.

When the victim is young, it's not much use as a parent or friend trying the "sticks and stones" approach.

The only small consolation is that the material is ephemeral. It's gone tomorrow, if it lasts that long. Unfortunately, tomorrow can just bring a fresh attack.

There are lots of measures in this new package: channels for dealing with complaints and mechanisms for getting material taken down.

All good. But ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff.

What's much harder to address is the motive behind online nastiness. And what it tells us about the kind of bitter, hateful and bitchy society the online world is becoming.