Do Mean Girls Ever Grow Up?

With social media on the forefront these days, I began pondering whether or not mean girls ever really grow up.  Let me, first, give a clear explanation of what I mean by "mean girls."  I'm not necessarily talking about the extremity of meanness from the movie.  What I'm referring to is the following....

*Incessant need to talk about everyone else in a negative way.  Other girls can be minding their own business completely and will STILL be criticized for something they're doing or wearing.

*Competitive over everything...and if they don't win, the other girl's a slut.

*Manipulative....and I'm talking manipulative just to be hurtful.  For instance, you'll pull a girl into a room and ask her what she thinks of someone else only to discover that the "someone else" you're referring to is hiding in the closet.

*"The Attitude".  The holier than thou, entitled as hell attitude.

The list could go on and on but, chances are, you know the type of girl I'm referring to. 

My question is whether or not they truly grow up......

My personal experience is that most of them do not.  While you can't change a tiger's stripes, life experiences can sometimes change their habits.  I find that most of these mean girls continue their behavior into adulthood.  They continue to pick on other girls, that are now mothers themselves, and often pick on the children as well.  They reflect their hidden self-esteem issues onto other women to attempt to bring them down to their level.

Now let me tell you a secret: you don't have to respond to them.  Just like you were probably told as a child, you can completely ignore them.  The reality is that they're going to talk either way.  Those that truly love and know you won't believe them.  Those that don't know you well and don't care might believe them and they aren't worth your time.  The real sad truth, though, is that a good majority of people have their own lives and don't care.  Adult life isn't high school (despite what these mean girls would like to believe to relive the glory days of yore) and gossip only goes so far with non-famous people.  Let the mean girls wear pink on Wednesday and move on with your life knowing that your life does not depend on the unhappiness of someone else.