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Gossip: The Social Currency
How much are you worth, socially? You can’t check that like numbers in a bank account. That’s because we trade in social currency, one of which is called Gossip. Here’s how the social & moral information economy works 👇 👇
Why do we Gossip?
Humans are social creatures; we form connections by trading information to one another.
We release oxytocin (ie. Happy Hormone) when we gossip, but we don’t when we talk about bland stuff like the weather.
That’s because it’s an evolutionary advantage to gossip.
Social animals keep track of fairness, we remember who treated us nicely and who didn’t.
Gossiping takes it to another level, where we also keep track of the favours and mostly, misdeeds of people whom we haven’t interacted directly with.
If you wrong one person, the entire social group will become aware of it.
So, like karma, gossip is both a punishment and a protection.
How do you get Gossip Gold?
Gossip is a social currency that you must trade to be a successful social being.
When someone tells you something about someone else, you feel compelled to add on and tell them what you know.
Now you’re trading and this increases the social bond, protecting you from being taken advantage of in the future.
Sharing negative information about someone (ie. manners, hygiene, ethics) protects everyone in the group and increases your own social bonds and standings.
That’s how the people who know everything about everyone, ruthlessly or not, are socially wealthy.
Gossip & Stocks:
If gossip is paper money, then secrets are stocks and bonds.
If you trade a secret, your bond is even stronger.
Just like earning interest, your bond is stronger the longer you keep that secret.
However, the more people you tell, the less valuable the secret becomes.
If someone finds out that you’ve been leaking the secret, you’ve devalued your stock and become untrustworthy.
Another way of pumping up your profile would be by trading in counterfeit, also known as lying.
The juicier the lie, the more currency you gain, but once it’s debunked, your entire social reputation is ruined.
Almost everyone has a negative view of gossip, yet almost everyone participates in it. Whether it’s someone’s behaviour, a secret or even a movie spoiler, information that makes you seem more in the know, makes you more socially powerful. In the age of social media, our primal tendencies are further amplified. So, are you willing to pay the price for gossip or does this portfolio mean nothing to you?
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