‘Orbiting’ Is Ruining Modern Dating — And You’re Probably Guilty Of It

These days, it feels as though there are so many different ways to be dumped in the modern dating scene.

Thought Catalog
6 min readMar 19, 2023
mikoto.raw Photographer

By Lacey Ramburger

These days, it feels as though there are so many different ways to be dumped in the modern dating scene.

At one point in time, if a person was interested in someone, they had to say so explicitly. If they didn’t, you accepted they did not want to pursue a romantic connection. However, modern dating has proven that there are plenty of ways to be led on or hopelessly confused. New names for dating behaviors seem to pop up daily, from soft ghosting to bread-crumbing.

However, while some of these methods we swear we would never participate in (I don’t think I’ve ever been able to actually ghost someone in my entire life), others feel a bit sneakier. They feel so small you may not notice it at first, but the results still make more of an impact than we care to admit.

One of those behaviors? Orbiting.

Orbiting is the practice of somewhat ghosting a person — except on social media. While the person may no longer text or have any kind of contact with you like they once did, they will still interact with your social…

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