Study: The rumors are good for you.

It may sound incredible, but according to studies we spend about 52 minutes a day discussing or gossiping with someone else.

Experts have found that most gossip is not just useless conversations we use to vent our emotions. There's something about rumors that make it a meaningful social process and we can all use it for our benefit.

How do we gossip, and is it as toxic as we think?

There is a stereotype that gossip is low, a conversation behind the back aimed at damaging someone's reputation. In fact, rumors result in being an important part of our daily lives and we do it for a reason.

Along with her colleagues, Megan Robbins, a psychologist at the University of California, did research to find out how we gossip. The team studied conversations of 467 people who agreed to put in equipment that recorded their conversations. The results of the investigation broke some stereotypes about the rumors: First, we spend about 52 minutes a day gossiping, and secondly, only 15% of those rumors are negative.

Another thing experts discovered is men tend to gossip as much as women do, while women's gossip seems to be more neutral than men's. In addition, extremists seem to spread more gossip than introverts and young people tend to spread negative gossip more often than older people.

The rumors can actually be good for us in some ways.

The rumors are a very complicated phenomenon. Experts suggest that during our evolution, gossip has become our tool of gathering important information that we can use to protect ourselves. The rumors help us build cooperation in our groups and be selective about what we include or expel from these groups.

When you gossip, you can keep in mind who is contributing to the group and who is selfish. By distributing this information, you can exclude those members of the group who are social fraud”, says Elena Martinescu, a researcher at Kings College, London.

Furthermore, studies have proved that even 15% of negative gossip can do us good. When we learn that people talk about some of our character traits or behavior, we can use this information for self-improvement. We may feel hurt and frustrated because of rumors that people spread behind our backs, but we can also use it as an opportunity to think about things that we can do wrong and fix them.

Although recent studies have shown that gossip is not as toxic as we often think it is, make sure that your gossip is not low and that it is not damaging anyone or damaging their reputation. Use gossip as a conversation that keeps you up - to - date with the most important facts in your close social circle.