Gossiping is a guilty pleasure, a waste of time and often says more about yourself than about the person you are gossiping about.
Now that we've got that out of the way, gossiping about others seems to be healthy too. Gossip creates a bond and can even lead to friendships. In addition, the opinions of others can help you to arrive at different insights.
According to research from the University of California, we gossip on average for 52 minutes a day. Are those conversations packed with juicy details and judgmental statements? Nope, according to the research, most of the gossip is neither positive nor negative, but neutral. Read:actually they are just boring conversations.
About 15 percent of gossip is judgmental or unkind. Still, gossiping can sometimes have benefits. Suppose you are indeed not behaving very well and you discover that people are gossiping about it, you are more willing to change your behaviour.
Oh, and those who have gossiped about you have probably become even thicker friends, since gossip is binding. Good for them.