First there was ghosting, then there was bread crumbing. Now, ‘haunting’ is the new dating trend in town, and it’s not pretty. In fact, it’s pretty darn creepy.
While ‘ghosting’ is the act of going on a couple of dates (or even just one) with someone and then suddenly disappearing off the face of the planet, ‘haunting’ is a lot harder to track.
Julie Spira, Online Dating Expert, Digital Matchmaker and Founder of Cyber-Dating Expert gave Bustle her definition of it.
“I describe ‘haunting’ as today’s term [for] stalking an ex on social media, but seemingly more common and less creepy-sounding,” she said. “When you’re still connected on social media, or following someone’s public posts, it becomes common to take a peek daily (or even several times a day) just to find out what’s happening [with the other person].”
RELATED: These Are The Ultimate Dating Deal-Breakers
It’s a way of the ex letting you know that they’re still there, and keeping themselves top of mind, without being too forward about it. It could be as simple as liking a Facebook post, or viewing one of your Snapchat stories so that you see their name on the list.
RELATED: Science Can Help You Get Over A Broken Heart
People often ‘haunt’ to manipulate an ex, so that they are not forgotten or can gauge if they still have a chance with you. It can seriously mess with your feelings, and even prevent you from moving on.
So what should you do about it?
The simple solution could be to block your ex on the channels they are interacting with you through. However if you don’t want to go to that extreme, you could make a conscious effort not to check who is liking or interacting with your posts for a while, so that you don’t get reminded of them.
Source: Read Full Article