Asha Pemberton
AS WE navigate life, we inevitably experience the hurt and embarrassment of rumour and/or gossip.
While sharing such information is totally unproductive, it remains an unfortunate reality of adolescence and adulthood. In particular, tweens and teens tend to engage heavily in these activities.
Rumours and gossip have the potential to damage the mental health, school life, socialization skills and overall wellbeing of others. Simply put gossiping is dangerous. Even though most young people are aware of this, the behaviour remains pervasive. Why does it persist?
Rumours are usually bits of misinformation, or information which has not been verified. Largely, they have some tangential aspect of truth which is often twisted or misconstrued. Overall, an individual sharing a rumour cannot prove its truth but chooses to share it anyway.
As the information passes along, there are embellishments so that the final product may bear little relation to the original content. Gossiping is defined as sharing an intentionally embarrassing detail about someone, with the prime intent of creating a negative outcome.
These outcomes can include ridicule, loss of social stature or demotion.
Typically, the information that constitutes gossip is content that one would not readily share about themselves. When gossiping, individuals are completely aware that whatever is shared can have overwhelming or damaging effects, but they choose to do so anyway.
Rumours and gossip should have no place in the communication between young people and their peer groups, but we must accept that these activities persist, for a variety of reasons.
The effects of being gossiped about are many. These effects are magnified during adolescence when identity, self-esteem and self-concept are fragile and in development. These are often the very reasons why young people themselves spread rumours and gossip in the first place.
A primary reason is that gossiping makes some young people feel better about themselves. Young people who struggle with their self-esteem feel a temporary sense of elation when they speak negatively about others thereby deflecting attention away from themselves.
By sharing salacious information about peers, in person or online, they attempt to gain acceptance into a peer group or try to oust someone else from a place in a social circle.
In other scenarios, when gossiping behaviour is rampant, young people choose to participate just to fit in and feel a sense of security. In these cases youth are prone to completely creating stories just to have some content to share.
Adolescents who live in family circumstances of emotional neglect or loneliness sometimes gossip simply to get attention.
They may intentionally or accidentally be privy to certain information about another; but the act of sharing and the responses obtained helps them to feel seen. This in turn boosts their sense of self. Young people from less supportive homes look to their school or social groups to feel validation.
They may use these te
