Be aware of your gossipping habits

As teenagers that attend a public high school, I’m sure we’ve all heard how effective gossip can be in destroying someone’s self-esteem. If we know how damaging it could be, why are we all more than eager to participate in it?

Our lives will not be affected in any way, shape, or form, if we spread information about other students that probably isn’t even true. Despite the lack of purpose, we are still always dying to hear about the latest gossip.

I know I always get curious about things that are going on, but I find that I stop caring when the news is about someone that I don’t even know or rarely ever see. I definitely will not make the extra effort to tell even more people about what I heard, especially if it would potentially hurt the people in question. Out of the 3,000 kids at school, I know less than a quarter of them, so news about who broke up with who, who cheated on a test, or who got suspended will probably have no relevance to me.

People naturally want to know about things that are none of their business, but there’s a difference between knowing things, and spreading things. If someone tells you negative information about someone you don’t know very well, there’s no point in you passing along the rumor to even more people.

All that would do is end up hurting someone you don’t even know. How would you feel if strangers look at you with disgust and make assumptions about your life?

That wouldn’t feel good at all. It would make what could have been an enjoyable high school experience turn into something awful that can’t end soon enough.

To the one gossipping, the rumor might just be words used to keep up a dragging conversation. To the one being gossipped about, however, the rumor changes everything. It could cause people to break down and completely despise having to go to a place where they’re constantly being judged.

Nowadays, we are always more than willing to hear negative things about a person than we are to learn about aspects of a person that deserve praise. The juiciest gossip is rarely ever about the latest good deed someone has completed. Instead, it’s always about something negative that would hurt the reputation or the self confidence of the person being talked about.

News spreads like wildfire, and all it takes is one person to start it. Be mindful of how your alleged news will affect other people, because it isn’t your job to decide that they need to suffer the consequence of having classmates that could have been friends consider them to be dishonest or untrustworthy.