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.

Gatsbying is apparently when you, like Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, throw lavish parties in the hopes of attracting the object of your desire. Just one huge difference: Instead of buying a mansion, reinventing yourselves and throwing wild parties. Millennials just post a photo or video on their Instagram or Snapchat Story, designed to attract that special someone.

Gatsbying is the new millennial dating trend, that refers to showing off on social media in the hopes that someone special will see your posts. Literally, where pretty young things put on a show to get their crush’s attention.

We’re all guilty of documenting our lives a little too much at times. But there can also be an ulterior motive behind why some of us upload videos, photos and Instagram Story. And that is in the hope that your crush will see it and message you.

Aussie model Matilda Dods who coined the trend and described it best in a post about it for TomBoyBeauty

“To post a video, picture or selfie to public social media purely for a love interest to see it.”

It doesn’t sound like Gatsbying is as bad as the other dating trends. However, it is a lot of energy spent in hope of attracting the attention of your crush. Seems like a text could do the job faster and a more direct way to communicate with your crush.

Hope that if you choose Gatsbying to grab your crush’s attention that it’ll go well. That it might elicit that flirty conversation from someone you’ve been secretly fantasising about. However, it doesn’t always work.