I feel this. I’m arguably one of the biggest gossips I know. I hang out with (mostly) neurodivergent people and have friends who just don’t feel comfortable doing it because people are shitty to them when they do it, which is a bit of a shame.

Gossiping can be useful to identify trends and wider feelings among people. It recently actually really seems to have helped my friends identify that a particular man they hang out with tends to make the women around him feel unsafe.

now i wonder if i’ve been hearing gossip my entire life and just never realized that’s what it is…

I’m the opposite. I don’t like gossiping, but if someone asks me a question I’ll answer it. One of my coworkers has figured this out and just asks me things. I’m not lying, nor have I agreed to keep anything secret, so whatever. Information wants to be free.

Me thinking I’m stowing away all their gossip as ammunition in case they even turn on me only for me to never remember what tf kind of incriminating gossip they’ve dished to me.