“Stashing” is the latest dating trend to worry about, and it might be worse than ghosting

Every few weeks, it seems that there’s a new dating craze happening — even faster than we can swipe right or left. Now, “stashing” is the dating trend to worry about, reports Brit + Co, and it might be worse than ghosting.

Of course, we’re probably ~all~ familiar with ghosting, when someone goes MIA. You’re having a great messaging rapport one moment —  for days, weeks, or months — and then, BAM! Poof! The person’s gone. Or maybe you’ve actually been seeing the person IRL and then they disappear. Either way, ghosting is the worst. But then another “worst” happened: breadcrumbing. ICYMI, that’s when someone keeps leading you on — a wink emoji here, a heart emoji there. They don’t go completely MIA, but string you along, crumb-by-crumb.

But with “stashing,” you’re dating someone and they haven’t disappeared. But they also may not be all-in when it comes to your relationship.

The problem is, they’re “stashing” you away — out of sight from their family and friends, and maybe from their Facebook and Insta feeds, too. So while you’re seeing them, you’re ~only~ seeing them, and don’t meet any of their loved ones.

We know — where did stashing come from?! Metro UK’s Ellen Scott brought it up in a piece she wrote.

“Yes, we’re the ones who’ve just come up with a name for it, but it’s a thing that’s happening to people from all corners of the world of dating, Scott wrote. “A victim of stashing is hidden from every other part of the stasher’s life — from their tagged photos to their casual chats with their parents. Why? Because that way, they’re able to pretend that they’re not ~really~dating the person they’re stashing, meaning they can justify getting with other people, doing whatever they fancy, and being generally inconsiderate and awful.

No matter what new negative dating trend is happening, we’re not fans. Ghosting, breadcrumbing, stashing…what happened to dating and just telling someone if you’re not interested in them? Instead, daters are left having to look for clues that someone’s “just not that into you,” which leads to all this crazy dating (read: non-dating) terminology.

That said, we’re going to go try dating people who don’t do the above — there must be ~some~ out there. Wish us luck!