It is a very common scene to point a group of students in a college, engaged in secretive talks standing close to each other and gossiping about others. While, it feels harmless on the very first instance, the repetitive gossips create environ of negative mental vibes. Besides, it showcases weak characters of students who don’t dare to face the person or address the problem they have with anyone.
As per the website Psycology Today, “There are evidences that gossip is most often derogatory and slanderous. Social psychologist Charles Walker collected gossip on the campus of St. Bonaventure University and found that a much greater percentage of gossip was critical rather than laudatory.”
To add on, Gossips kill time to a large extent where students fall in the trap of lucrative stories and lose their productive time in useless talk that doesn’t yield any fruitful outcome. This continuous behavior of gossiping in the college becomes a strong habit in future that continues throughout their life.
As such, here are few ways to gently avoid the instances of gossiping and stay away from it:
- Think from the perspective of a person whom you are gossiping about. Slowly, you tend to understand the nature of person rather than getting involved in spreading information about him/her.
- Imagine what it feels like to be the target of gossip. Imagine how bad a person could feel if he/she comes across the pessimistic gossip, people are doing about him/her. A fear of insecurity and an air of helplessness complicates the mental scenario of the person.
By imagining this, one gains the feeling of compassion and tries staying away from negative gossips.
- Think constructively on coming across any gossip. Instead of accentuating the gossip such as asking question like, “ Really?” and “Is it so?”, you can help terminate the discussion by statements such as “It’s fine and it’s understandable”.