‘Orbiting’ Is The Newest Online Dating Trend That’s Ruining Your Love Life

If you’ve been single and mingled anytime within the past five years, you probably realized that modern dating is absolutely exhausting. Not only has technology totally changed the dating game, but it’s also brought in a whole slew of new dating trends so complicated that only Millennials (and the older waves of Gen Z) could truly pull them off.

‘Orbiting‘ just so happens to be the newest of those terrible dating trends that are definitely ruining your love life. It’s a lot like ghosting, except about 100 times more frustrating, because you just can’t shake the feeling of being watched — and being watched, you are.

https://twitter.com/mungochungi/status/988476866884403200

Much like ghosting, orbiting generally begins when the person you’ve been seeing suddenly disappears from your life. They stop responding to texts, they don’t call anymore, they basically act like you’re strangers. But what sets orbiting apart from other classic dating trends is how, even when they disappear, these “ghosts” still keep up with you through social media. They watch every one of your snapchats, are the first to click on your Instagram stories, and even respond to your tweets every now and then. While they may completely ignore you in real life, they can’t seem to get enough of you online. Basically, they keep you in their orbit.

According to Man Repeller, this isn’t at all an uncommon occurrence for women (and even men). Philip Ellis, a writer in the UK, explained the phenomena in simple terms: “Guys seem to do it when they want to keep their options open, which is a common theme with online dating.”

Whoever said social media made life simpler is a liar. Modern day dating is more nuanced than ever, to the point where every little thing seems to mean something. From submarining, to breezing, to obligaswiping, the fact of the matter is this: dating is complicated af.