Ew, why does she dress like that? Why is he so ugly? Why are they even dating? Why is she so annoying? I heard a rumor, promise not to tell anyone.

As a teenager in high school, there’s a good chance that these words have been spoken either from your mouth or from the people around you. With the pressures of trying to fit in, it seems almost impossible to avoid a daily dose of good gossip about other people with a group of friends.

Although deemed harmless, most people don’t realize the harmful effects that bullying can have on an individual. There is nothing positive that comes out of gossiping about the victim or the people talking about them. In the end, everyone pays a price.

There are 5 reasons why people feel the need to make one-sided offensive judgments about the other person: they feel insecure about themselves, out of boredom, out of envy, to feel like apart of a friend group, or for attention.

At Ripon High School, a poll of approximately 50 students was done about the harmful effects of bullying. Out of the 50 students, 46.5 percent said that the type of bullying that has affected them the most personally was gossiping.

As teenagers, here’s how bullying works. One person tells someone else their secret. They tell their friends and the story starts going around. While the story is spreading, each person is changing the story, adding a little bit more to make it sound juicier. Finally, when word comes back to the original person, it could be a completely different story than how it started.

In a way, gossiping can be described as a train of unfortunate events that can only result in a negative and hurtful outcome.

Not only does gossiping harm the person, it also creates lies about them that aren’t true. Gossiping has become such an issue in teenagers that it’s become ok to break your promises with someone and share a secret just to create a good story.

Most people do not realize that when they talk about someone else, they’re actually bullying. Gossiping is a form of indirect bullying that intends to tease an individual or use their personal information and twist it up to make a good story.

Although it seems impossible to avoid the continual cycle of gossip, there are multiple simple and easy ways to be committed to not gossiping. The first action to be taken against gossiping is to not listen to others when they gossip. 90 percent of the time of what they say is not true.

The “Hope Line,” which is dedicated to stopping the issue of gossip, says that it is important to not judge people based off of gossip that has been passed around. Most individuals do not think before they speak and they make up a story to impress the large circle of friends around them.

In the end, gossiping is more harmful and hurtful than entertaining. The better and more positive way to talk about people is to discuss their talents or what makes them unique. Gossiping can leave someone feeling as if they’ve just eaten a sour lemon. While it may seem enjoyable at first, the long-term effects do more harm than good. It is much more uplifting and enlightening to discuss the good in people with others and to discover what truly makes people remarkable.