When an individual is considering starting a relationship with someone or is currently in one and the all forms of communication stops, this is called ghosting. It is a complete disappearance rather than telling that person that you are not interested or no longer interested. That individual just disappeared without explanation. It not only happens to romantic relationships but friendships as well. Let’s discuss why ghosting happens
Why does ghosting happen? Ghosting happens because people try to avoid emotional discomfort as much as they can because let’s be real, who likes to be broken up with? So individuals figure if ignore whomever, then they can avoid that by just going MIA. Studies show at least 78% of Millennials have experienced ghosting in some sort of way whether it be a friendship or romantic relationship. I am part of this percentage.
When I was in my freshman year I met a girl, let’s call her Katie. Katie and I quickly became two peas in a pod and were inseparable right from the moment we met. We did the typical stuff best friends do and rarely did anything without the other. Fast forward to the start of my sophomore year, I was so excited to see Katie again as was she and we would hang out but not as often since we no longer lived in the same building. I would still call and text to see if she wanted to hangout but I was starting to notice that she would not reply as often and if I wanted to see her then I had to go out of my way to make plans with her. I then stopped reaching out to her because I wanted to see how long it would take till she reached out to me. She never did.
I passed by Katie in the hall one day with two of my friends and stopped her. I questioned her and asked her where she’s been and why we haven’t spoken as much. She didn’t know what to say and tried to that wasn’t true and we still spoke. But obviously that is not the case because if it was then ghosting would not be the focus of this article. I haven’t spoken to Katie since that day in the hallway.
Ghosting leaves an individual confused because they are left not knowing what they did wrong such as myself. Katie and I never fought, she just disappeared one day and I to this day, do not understand why. I attempted to figure out what went wrong in our friendship but she never gave me an answer. I would have rather had Katie just tell me that she did not wanna be friends instead of ignoring me. By her ignoring me, she hurt me more because I didn’t know why she did not want to be my friend anymore. Moral of the story, instead of ghosting a person, simply tell them that you’re not interested or you don’t want to be friends with them. It’s better to be honest with said person rather than to leave them confused and questioning what they did wrong.