Is it ever OK to ghost someone?

It’s become a cruel mainstay of dating in the modern age. Christine Manby explores the painful experience of getting the digital cold shoulder

Illustrations by Tom Ford

Ghosting. If you haven’t heard of it, where have you been? If you haven’t experienced it, then lucky you. Ghosting is one of the worst things to come out of the digital age.

It refers to the habit of breaking up with someone without telling them you’ve done so.

It’s about abruptly terminating communication without so much as a “Dear John” text, leaving your former beloved, or even just a former friend, wondering if your phone was stolen, if you lost your texting thumb in an industrial accident, or if you’re actually dead.