Doesn't bitching, at some point, get tiring? My mum told me that back in the day when televisions were non-existent and radio reception was a far cry from perfect, people would gossip excessively. As in they actually thrived on it. She was giving me many anecdotes of which I'm not about to publicly share. That aside and to be completely honest, even with better technology, more avenues and new forms of literary expression, people still engage in idle talk if not as much, more so than ever.

I guess it's not so much the transition in time OR the lack of/abundance of alternative technology that attributes to this insatiable hunger for gossip but the constant factor that is, People. Cliche as it may sound (and even more cliche for me to use this phrase) , it could be simply, human nature to be consumed with others' follies and flaws rather than their own to make up for or possibly hide from their sad, uninteresting, pathetic existence.