Have you ever been in a relationship and out of nowhere, the other person just stops talking to you? An old fad in relationships has once again reared its ugly head in recent media. This dating technique is referred to as ghosting. There are no explanations, no calls, no texts and no contact whatsoever. Nothing happened (to your knowledge) and yet here you are: the victim of ghosting.
This trend may seem like the typical way for a jerky high school guy to get rid of the clingy girl who calls herself his girlfriend, but it is actually something that people today of all ages and genders are doing. They do not want to talk to or be with someone anymore, so they simply cut them off with no words. The trend happens not just in romantic relationships, but in friendships as well.
Ghosters will often try to justify their actions of cutting off their relationships by saying that they do not want to hurt the feelings of the other party. They think that ending a relationship verbally will cause more harm to them than this.
I could not agree less with that. I think that social media has a lot to do with this trend rising again. People– especially young people–nowadays do not know how to communicate well. We are all so well adept at hiding behind light-up screens and keyboards. We do not know the value or even the struggle of face-to-face conversation. Confrontation to us means sending a risky text that might either be ignored or blow up into a full-on texting fight.
Ghosting is just a cowardly, lame way to exit a relationship. If you really do not want to be with someone, just grow up, be mature and end it. At least this way, the other person has a reason and some closure. Not knowing something like this can torment a person, not to mention worry them for a while that something may have happened to their significant other who seems to have disappeared.
If you do not want to be friends with someone, tell them. We are not in elementary school anymore. Not everyone is going to get along, and not everyone is going to like each other. That is something that cannot necessarily be controlled at the adult age. However, what we can control is our attitude, actions and behavior. We all have the ability to have a civil conversation and the ability to be respectful to other human beings.
I have zero respect for these “ghosters.” If you do not think you can handle walking out of someone’s life, you should not plan on even walking in in the first place.
