Gossip is just one of the many facets of the high school experience. Gossip has a unique ability to spread and morph through a school faster than anything else. Some find gossip harmless, while others manipulate gossip into cruel forms. In The Oxford Handbook of Gossip and Reputation, the author states that some people consider gossip to be a social skill. Experts, however, are not always as affected by gossip as high school students.
For example, Noah Crase (YPAS, 10) was a closeted middle school student. During this time, Crase was gossiped about due to his sexuality. Crase found gossip to be cruel and unneeded in middle school. Now in highschool, he has rekindled his relationship with gossip. Crase says that he has been able to produce and cultivate relationships by utilizing gossip.
“I think that I live a life where I gossip a lot, and a lot of my friends gossip and so it’s made me many friendships,” Crase said.
Crase believes that throughout high schools in America, gossip can be more demeaning than in middle school. Crase explains that gossip is amplified in high school due to the mature nature of the content that is discussed, as opposed to middle school.
Parker Creeden (VA,10), in contrast with Crase, hadn’t really been affected by or dealt with gossip until high school. Creeden finds that mature material (drugs and alcohol) are the main focus of gossip in high school gossip. Creeden states that he believes that a lot of gossip is just rumors instead of actual truth.
Besides being used to spread truth and lies, Creeden finds that gossip has the ability to be more than malicious. Creeden, despite his negative view on gossip, stated that others gossiping helped him find out that someone close to him was being deceitful, and additionally, helped him to determine the need to stray away from an infamous group of people causing trouble.
“It certainly helped me yesterday…I had a friend come to me, and was like, I think this person is lying to you a little bit,” Creeden said. He finds that people can utilize gossip in positive ways.
Kate Stewart (YPAS, 10) has the same opinion. Stewart finds that gossip can be used to keep trouble makers in check and not make stupid decisions. She believes that if, for example, you are mean or cruel to someone, people will believe you to be a nasty person and talk to others about how despicable you are. Stewart explains that gossip is a necessary evil and sometimes a good avenue for well deserved revenge.
“If you do something bad, like if you’re mean, people are gonna say you’re a mean person. So there’s some pros and cons to gossip, as it can be harmful, but it can also provide a boundary for people not to completely do whatever they want,” Stewart said.
Gossip has so many capabilities: cultivation and creation of friendships, a social check and balance system and revealing malicious secrets. As shown, gossip can be used to degrade and isolate individuals, creating unhappy situations and lives. Gossip’s utilities change depending on whether you chose to use gossip to create positive or negative situations and lives. Stewart, Creeden, and Crase all agree: Gossip can be good or bad, powerful or weak, and useful or harmful.
