There’s no shortage of gossip in our lives. From the inside track on celebrities and politicians, to discussing the ups and downs of our family and friends, most of us spend a good part of each day talking about other people. As much as we might enjoy keeping up with the latest buzz and staying in the loop, the question is whether this guilty pleasure is a good way to spend our time.

Surprisingly, the answer appears to be yes. Gossip isn’t just nosey chit-chat, according to a new study from Dartmouth University. That’s a relief since past research shows most people gossip on average around 52 minutes a day.

Gossip can be a good thing under certain circumstances, but false rumors are another story.

Gossip doesn’t always mean we’re spreading rumors or putting people down. The Dartmouth study showed how talking about other people’s lives not only helps to create social connections but also opens us to new possibilities in the world, even if we haven’t experienced them ourselves.

The researchers devised an ingenious online game to study how gossip gets going. It went like this: participants played 10 rounds of the game in six-person groups. Every round the players got $10 and had the choice of keeping the fee or investing any portion of it in a group fund. The fund would multiply by 1.5 times and then the total saving would be equally divided among the six players. What does this have to do with gossip?

Sometimes the game restricted information so the players could only observe a couple of their teammates. During other games, players could privately chat with someone else in their group. This gave players the chance to gossip about who was freeriding and who was contributing their money with the team. After the contest, players identified who in their group they would be willing to play with again.

“The idea was to create a life-like scenario, in which people were a member of a community and affected by the actions of other community members who they only observed and rarely engaged with directly,” researcher, Eshin Jolly, explained.

Not only does gossip help form relationships, but as Jolly points out, “By exchanging information with others, gossip can be useful because it helps people learn through the experiences of others, while enabling them to become closer to each other in the process.”

Gossip can be a good thing under certain circumstances, but false rumors are another story. Spreading untruths and making libelous accusations can lead to hurt feelings — or lawsuits. When talking about others, be compassionate and try to choose your words wisely.

The study appears in Current Biology.