Cloaking – new dating trend you need to avoid

Modern dating has brought about some dating terms that are awful.

You’ve probably heard of a few of them by now: kittenfishing, ghosting and breadcrumbing, to name a few.

Now there’s a new dating trend floating around the internet, it’s called “cloaking“. Like the previous dating terms that have come to exist, it’s a result of the close-knit interaction between dating and digital technology we use on a daily basis.

What is cloaking?

Cloaking was coined by Mashable writer Rachel Thompson after an unpleasant dating experience she had. She describes cloaking like this: Cloaking is when a person doesn’t just stand you up for a date. They also block you on any app you have previously communicated on.

It’s not a nice thing to go through. The digital era makes it easy for strangers to chat but it’s hard to see them as individuals. Treating someone badly, whether ghosting or roaching is a result of that reality, unfortunately. There are plenty of people who hide behind their screens and lose touch with reality.

Why would anyone start a conversation online only to disappear before things even begin? Right? Maybe there’s a bigger disconnect between screen-life and real-life. Maybe there are people who get frightened about meeting IRL.

Cloaking it seems to be about fear, fear of connection, fear of being vulnerable, fear of being real and being honest.

Don’t pull this humiliating act on anyone. If you changed your mind write a text to cancel, it doesn’t take a lot of time. It might lead to an unpleasant interaction but it’s the decent thing to do instead of disappearing and blocking someone. Let the other person know you have changed your mind.

What to do if you get cloaked?

On the last note, do not try to track down your cloaker to give them a piece of your mind. We understand you’re angry, but if they don’t have the emotional maturity or honesty to write you a text to cancel, maybe you dodged a bullet.

Move on because there’s plenty of fish in the sea.