Just as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, a new dating trend will rear its head.
Yes, another dating trend has inflicted itself upon the world of singletons.
As if they didn't have enough on their plate contending with icks, red flags, amber flags, beige flags, ghosting and breadcrumbing.
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So what's the latest thing for romantics to keep an eye out for?
'Fizzling' apparently, and according to some, it's even more painful than being ghosted.
Say it ain't so!
So what is fizzling?
Ghosting sees you dropped off the face of the earth with no warning or explanation and fizzling? Well, fizzling is when your date slowly weans you off them, putting in less and less effort until whatever relationship you had going on ends up 'fizzling out' completely.
Essentially, ghosting is an abrupt end where they cut ties sharply and unexpectedly and 'fizzling' is a more slow, painful and confusing death.
According to Hinge's LGBTQIA+ DATE report, fizzling 'can be just as painful as ghosting, with a majority (90 percent) of LGBTQIA+ people not wanting someone to fizzle them'.
"Daters would much rather receive a direct text," it notes.
Tawkify - 'America's number one matchmaker' - posted a video to TikTok about the issue, noting signs of someone fizzling are when they 'slow down the communication' and aren't as available to meet up.
"All in an effort to try and get the other person to decide, 'Yeah, okay I'm not interested in this anymore'. [...] And then [they're] not the bad person.
"If you're finding it harder to get in touch, you're being fizzled and take the hint because that person is not worth being in a relationship with anyway because they don't have good communication skills," she added.
Speaking to the Mirror, Hinge expert Moe Ari Brown explained that fizzling causes the victims to feel 'unworthiness, confusion and self-doubt'.
Ultimately, if you've fizzled someone or are currently doing so, it definitely says more about you than it does the victim.
Relationship expert Rhian Kivits said: "The person doing the fizzling is most likely avoidant and selfish because they're not responsible or secure enough to admit that they’re no longer interested in the connection and they lack care for the way their behaviour makes others feel."
Brown reminds any dating darters, ghosting guys or fizzling flighters: "If you're not feeling the connection, remember there's another human being on the other side of that screen - and they deserve closure."
Topics: Sex and Relationships, TikTok, Viral
Ben Thompson