Forget reality TV. Try reality instead.

Big Brother may have turned spying into an acceptable past-time, but I think technology is the beast that is killing the age-old habit of eavesdropping.

And I, as a journalist, want to bring it back from the brink of death. After all, this is a legitimate form of news gathering.

Now, I am not talking about eavesdropping in the creepy, Matthew Hooker (aka Nicole Kidman’s resident stalker) kind of way.

For example, don’t lurk in the corner of the Woolworth’s toilet roll aisle or gatecrash 18th birthday parties with a six-pack of tax-free alcopops under your trench coat.

No, the key to re-establishing this hobby is to simply yank your iPod out of your ears, silence those incessant tweets on your NASA-issue phone and, instead, absorb the chattering birdsong of your fellow community members.

Whether they are on a bus, sitting at a coffee shop or waiting in line for their grease and oil change at Maccas, people love to sprout forth their daily ruminations.

So if you happen to be within earshot, soak it up. All you need to know about the latest social trends, the PM’s popularity rating and which of your neighbours bought the last of the P2 face masks at the chemist will be revealed.

Not only is this how I learnt that bubble skirts were no longer fashionable in the 1990s, I have conjured up many a story idea in just this way.

Take one of my students from the freelance writing course that I present for the Sydney Writers’ Centre for example. She confessed to the entire class last week that she gets many of her ideas (which are very timely and newsworthy) from hanging out at her local butcher.

“I am a shocking eavesdropper,” she admitted with pure glee. I couldn’t have been prouder.

But you don’t need to be a journalist to eavesdrop. Anyone can do it.

So, get out there and connect with your community. Let your endorphins ride the highs and lows with tales of first love, cheating husbands, back-stabbing girlfriends or stabbing neighbours doing 20 years hard labour.

And if you stumble upon a good news story over the butcher’s tray of Osso Buco, give me a call.

To learn more about WriteSmart or Pamela Wilson, log onto www.writesmart.com.au