I have several friends in college who only talk to me about their relationships with other people. When I hang out with them, they tell me who they had sex with last night, or what clothes their friends were wearing. I love my friends, but I am tired of listening to this bullshit. How can I change the topic of conversation to something more interesting? I love to talk about travel, psychology, books, music, food, hiking, meditation, and animals.
How can I stop my friends from gossiping?
They need ears to talk to. - Just execuse yourself.
And 'mark' them as having low integrity.
How can I stop my friends from gossiping?
Get male friends. They'll be really fun to be with since they won't be gossiping 24/7.
That way you'll have a win-win. Otherwise you could easily tell them to ease off the gossiping and bring up another subject. If they were genuinely good friends, they would understand.
Just tell them to talk about something else and every time they start gossiping, change the subject or ignore them.
or get some new friends with your same interests
You can pretty much only lead by example; people are always going to talk, and unfortunately it does get really old to others.
Next time it comes up, if you don't really want to confront them about it, change the subject to something you would rather talk about, either gently or you can make it obvious if you want it to BE obvious.
If that doesn't work, I would say something like how it makes you feel when there's nothing BUT gossip to talk about. That it drains you, brings you down, etc.
If they're your friend, they'll respect it and move along with you.
Hope it works out!
Well, to be a good friend is to listen to other people about their problems or concerns (to a certain point) so just listen and acknowledge that you hear them without necessary taking a side. More often then not, they just want someone to hear them. However, be aware that you may become looped into the gossip circle eventually. The best policy, don't talk crap about someone just because everyone else is partaking in it, unless you honestly coincide with the gossip and at anytime;would be willing to say the same thing to the person's face.
Well i had that same question once, but when i tried to figure out a way to stop friends from gossiping it didn't work.
But maybe it will work for you, just remind them that talking about other people behind their backs is a bad thing to do, because who knows, maybe other people are talking behind your backs, and you don't want that to spread around.
