A Problem: Bitching

Hey guys!

Bitching is something that has bothered me for a while now. What constitutes bitching exactly? And when does "discussing" someone turn into bitching? I suppose this has hit me because I've had a few conversations, very honest and frank conversations with a few close friends about other people and afterwards a thought has stayed with me,"Was that a bitchy conversation?" I know, of course, that we're all teenagers and a certain amount of bitching is almost inevitable.
It's easy to be bitchy about people that we don't like. "Oh she's so up herself" is a regularly used expression, amongst others. But why do we bitch? Just because we don't get on with or even know this person, does that give us an excuse to use everything against them, from their hair colour to their IQ? This has bothered me for ages, I mean why do we spend so much of our time running other people down? It doesn't even make us any happier. It's a form of bullying, to be brutally honest about it.
I think the root of the problem is jealousy, on the bitchers side and lack of mindfulness when making comments. Ya she's confident and is friends with most of the boys, but that doesn't give you excuse to call her a hoe or slut. I think that this shows that you want to be more like her (maybe you wish you had her confidence?) It's an immature habit but it's one that so many of us will carry with us for the rest of our lives.
I can't think of a better way to phrase the lack of mindfulness, only that a lot of the time, a bitchy comment slips out before someone has had time to internally censor it. Yes, we all say things we regret but what is the point of making a crack about someone's new haircut? It's only going to lead to someone getting upset or offended and you'll look like a total meanie. Which, lets face it, no one wants to be labelled a meanie.
I think we (as in the entire teenage population of the world, boys included) should give our peers a break. And if your friend makes a bitchy comment about someone that you know not to be true, call him/her up on it. Tell them that no, that's not true and it was a less than nice thing to say. No one's perfect, and no one claims to be. I think we should be less judgmental and give more free hugs
(I love free hugs)
Thoughts?
Sorry for the rant. I promise not to do them too often :)