In our digital age, people often use online communications to form and maintain relationships—especially teens and younger adults. While that can be a good thing, it also means that online “ghosting”—cutting off communications with someone without explanation—has become a more common practice. While ghosting someone may be common, it can deeply and negatively affect the well-being of the person being ghosted. But what happens to the “ghoster” in those situations? Does someone who ghosts others pay a price? A new study aimed to find out.
The researchers surveyed a group of 415 older teens and young adults in Germany about their ghosting habits, by reporting how often they’ve done things like “suddenly completely stopped replying to a partner from a casual or steady relationship on social media without that person knowing the reasons” or “broken off contact on social media with someone in my circle of friends or acquaintances (熟人) without giving a reason for doing so.”
They also reported on how much they felt overwhelmed by social media or smartphone communications, generally—which is a potential reason to ghost—as well as their levels of self-esteem and depressive symptoms, initially and about four months later. The researchers used this data to look at how ghosting someone might affect the ghoster’s well-being, as well as how different factors could be tied to their initial ghosting behavior.
After analyzing the data, the researchers found that young people who’d ghosted friends more at one point in time were more likely to be depressed four months later. This suggests that ghosting could have negative health consequences not only for “ghostees” but for “ghosters”, says lead researcher Michaela Forrai of the University of Vienna.
“Social connections are important for one’s well-being, and even limited, emotionally-intense relationships come with significant benefits—which we tend to underestimate (低估),” she says. “A lack of social connections can put individuals at risk for depressive tendencies, which is what we think happened here.”
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