Why Gossip Can Be Good For You

Often vilified an idle activity at best, or a dangerous pastime at worst, here’s why we should be re-examining the benefits of gossip in the age of new media.

- Renée Batchelor

If you love gossiping — whether it’s by the office watercooler or on a secret WhatsApp group — it’s likely that this is not something you advertise, or are particularly proud of. At the same time, it’s unlikely that gossiping is something you will actively seek to avoid, as it is an essential part of making sense of the social world.

Gossip is often characterised as the idle chatter of the criminally underworked, or in a more nefarious sense, the political manoeuverings of Machiavellian wannabes. But in a time where even Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, one of most powerful men in the world, is involved in a huge gossip story, you have to pay attention to the power of this medium.

Gossip has more uses than one would imagine today — rather counterintuitively — in the era of fake news. Although it is not often framed as such, gossip is a way of learning and digesting vital news in an informal manner. For individuals who are is not in a position of power, gossip can be a very useful source of information, that they would not otherwise be privy to. Lainey Lui, the founder of LaineyGossip.com and a host on CTV’s The Social & Etalk, is known for her insightful celebrity gossip, and believes that gossip is key to how we process information. “Gossip is a conversation — it’s information exchange and it’s a communication tool. Through gossip you begin to form opinions, you shape your understanding of a person or an idea, and that information helps you navigate your next moves,” says Lui.

And it is unfortunate that gossip has taken on a rather gendered slant, with many, wrongly believing that it is a largely feminine activity. To find out how that came about, you only need to dig deeper into the etymology of gossip.