Last week, a Mattson Middle School student was charged with third degree assault for allegedly choking another student unconscious. The student claimed they were merely playing “the choke game,” while police and school officials assert it was a clear-cut case of assault and bullying.

Whatever the truth may ultimately prove to be in that case, the incident made me think of the evolution of bullying — especially in schools.

Bullies as a species haven’t really “evolved” in the sense that their essence has changed. Their basic behavior, and the root causes for it, will always be the same. A is A.

What has changed, drastically, is how society has dealt with the issue in the past decade or so, and how bullies themselves have adapted.

Before, bullies were dealt with “off the books,” so to speak. Stories I’ve been told of bullies back from the 1950s and 1960s resemble Scott Farkus from “A Christmas Story.” When a kid was beat up he didn’t tell the teacher or his parents. He hid it, either from shame, or the embarrassment of having it brought to the attention of the whole school and being called a coward. For the most part, the victim had several options. He could either endure it, outrun the bully or learn how to fight back. As indicated in “A Christmas Story,” some victims chose to fight back. Even if they were no match, the bully would find someone else more submissive to abuse.

This also meant that bullies didn’t really fear the school or the wrath of a kid’s parent, and if they did, they learned to bully right outside school property. But if they were caught, they didn’t have to face state and federal anti-bullying laws. They didn’t have to worry about being taken to court and charged with a hate crime. They knew as long as they were smart, they wouldn’t get into trouble.

The climate for bullying has changed, however, and physical bullies can’t operate at schools anymore without a high risk of getting caught. Surveillance cameras leave few blind spots, and school district policies generally have such strict guidelines that not only do bullies can nabbed, but often so do innocent kids out of over-zealotry. And when they are caught the whole world knows about it.

It’s reached the point where physical bullies are being depopulated while emotional bullies are popping up like jack rabbits. There are far fewer bullies like Buddy Revell from the 1987 film “Three O’ Clock High” and more and more resembling Rachael McAdam’s Regina George from 2004’s “Mean Girls”.

Emotional bullying is far easier because it doesn’t have to clear the same hurdles physical bullying must in order to work. For example, from a legal point of view, it is a lot easier to define physical bullying. At my high school the policy was a three-day suspension if you touched someone in an angry/violent manner.

But what is emotional bullying?

Nobody can provide a clear-cut definition. Merely from outward appearances, the difference between lighthearted jokes and friendly teasing from mean-spirited comments and cruel insults can be hard to separate.

Some definitions I’ve heard have ranged from very narrow to so vague and broad that merely telling someone you don’t like their fashion tastes could constitute as bullying.

And even if someone actually could produce a solid definition, how do you stop kids from emotional bullying? Some, for example, consider the silent treatment, or refusing to associate with someone, to be a form of bullying.

How are you going to pass a rule forcing a kid to talk or associate with another kid? How do you ban rumor-spreading and gossiping? And who would actually think such a rule would produce the intended outcome?

Physical bullies also suffer from the nature of their methods. It’s blatant and leaves a long trail of evidence.

But the pain and injury caused by emotional bullying is invisible. The personal profiles can also be deceptive.

It’s easy to rain hellfire on a physical bully when they’re as big as Andre the Giant. It’s another matter entirely when the “bully” is an angelic-looking girl with a sweet smile or a slender boy with a seemingly good natured personality. Their coy demeanors perfectly conceal the destruction their words or actions have on someone else.

Physical bullies also have to literally confront their victim. An emotional bully can torment theirs anywhere at anytime, while being recorded on school surveillance, which does not have the ability to capture the nuance of their tone and the subtext, or at home using social media. When they do so from the comforts of their own home, school administrators can’t touch them.

Sadly, much of the reason they are gaining numbers is because too many people are trying to use the same tactics against emotional bullies that they do against physical bullies, all to no effect.

Ultimately, aside from confronting them directly, there’s not much you can do to stop an emotional bully. Government legislation, draconian school policies and social media monitoring won’t curb it. Neither will restricting students’ free speech or ability to express their beliefs or attitudes.

All you really can do is just ignore them.