Definition of Ghosting and Benching

New technologies have not only changed the way we communicate but have also served to create new words. The terms ghosting and benching are a clear example of the new language associated with social networks.

Ghosting

In the social relationships that are generated through the network happens with certain frequency that someone no longer answers the messages or calls of others. Whoever stops answering becomes a disappeared person and when this happens, ghosting occurs.

This term in English comes precisely from the word ghost, which means ghost. Thus, ghosting takes place when a person integrated into a network of friends and acquaintances makes the decision to disconnect from her group. Somehow, whoever acts this way becomes a ghost.

This phenomenon has two protagonists: the one who makes the decision not to respond to the messages and the one who waits for a reply that is not finally produced. The former may feel guilty for ignoring the messages, and the latter will predictably feel frustrated and offended. In any case, in the virtual world it is relatively common for friends and acquaintances to appear and in a short time they mysteriously stop appearing.

Benching

Using WhatsApp like social network it is a global phenomenon with millions of users. Through texts and emoticons a communication immediate and direct with all kinds of people, such as friends, acquaintances, neighbors or co-workers.

Practicing benching consists of maintaining regular contact with someone through WhatsApp but with the intention of using that person as a second alternative. Who uses this strategy You do not intend to meet the other person personally, since all you intend is to use them in some sense.

Imagine a young woman who breaks a romantic relationship with her boyfriend, but she decides to keep in touch with him because she believes that in this way it will be possible to resume the relationship in the future.

The term benching comes from the expression to bench, which means to leave another person in the background, as if he were on the bench waiting for a chance.

The virtual world is the perfect setting for ghosting and benching

Losing contact with someone is not a novel phenomenon, as it is as old as humanity itself. The same happens when someone is manipulated and made to believe that they are important.

Despite the fact that these strategies are part of the human condition and have always occurred, ghosting and benching are phenomena that can only be understood in the realm of new technologies.

Something very similar is what has happened with cyber-bullying, since the act of harassing or harassing is part of evil human, but this version of evil takes on a new dimension in the cyber world (it is not the same to be harassed by one person directly than to be harassed by hundreds of individuals through a social network).

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