Waiting for a Tiktok to load, even a few seconds too long, is enough for many of us to swipe right on to the next one. The slightest delay when texting someone can trigger our “ignored” alarm bells. Our modern society has taught young people that instant gratification is now a standard and as a result, a sense of urgency follows every interaction and activity we pursue. The constant and consistent availability and bombardment of new information on our social media feeds is conditioning us to have exceedingly short fuses. 

Like it or not, we are always on the lookout for how other people compare to ourselves. Certainly, relative to another person, we may feel better about ourselves because we think we are doing better, but in contrast, we feel like we are worse.

Now, I would like to be very clear here and say that gossip is a unisex activity. It’s a common stereotype that gossiping and intergroup hostility are activities reserved for women and girls, but that is simply not true.