Mehek and Sahil met on a dating app and engaged in heavy ‘love bombing’ even before their second date. Suddenly, everything stopped, and he became cold and distant, leading them into a ‘situation-ship’. Mehek realised he was ‘benching’ her and chatting with other women on the same app. Sahil was ‘bread-crumbing’ her just to keep her hooked. When Mehek finally asked for clarity on where they stood, Sahil didn’t respond and ‘ghosted’ her.
When did love turn into a confusing vocabulary test?
What are these terms actually?
From ‘love’ and ‘marriage’, ‘break up’ and ‘divorce’ to ‘open relationships’ and ‘live-in relationships’ to Gen Z terms like ghosting, situation-ships, benching, etc., relationship terms have evolved in the age of dating apps and social media. Dating in this age is more about labels.
Sanjana Majumdar, a post-grad student, said, “In my opinion, it is just complicating things between couples. Because of these terms, concepts like love, trust, compatibility, and belongingness are taking a back seat. These new fancy terms make a human more confused, lost and vulnerable.”
Another student, Baibhab Tripathi, added, “In the rise of social media, people have become readily accessible just like groceries, which leads to comparison. Due to this, it has become difficult for our generation to enter and stay in a relationship. Since people are unable to find the perfect match, they keep giving specific names to certain relations which should not be the case”, said
The influence of dating apps, social media, and emotional unavailability contributes to these ‘modern dating’ terms. Therefore, the internet needs to stop normalising these labels of complex emotions and the indirect promotion of a cheating culture.
Does it affect a person emotionally?
Mohammed Jasim Buksh, an undergraduate student, said, “Modern dating has turned into a maze of psychological games. Earlier, we only had the uncertain ‘talking phase’, but Gen Z has added so many layers of complexity that a genuine connection feels impossible. For those of us who value honesty, these games are exhausting. We shouldn’t need a glossary to fall in love. We just need people to show up and be real.”
When someone is ghosted or bread-crumbed, initially, they feel rejected and confused for lack of clarity and start blaming themselves, but once they are aware of the terminology, they get the validation and that creates a sense of shared reality.
Once we start labelling everything, emotional pain reduces to a casual meme. It is said that this gives a language to the pain, but what the language actually gives is anxiety, confusion and lack of closure.
Can labels replace real relationships?
The labels act as a tool of awareness. helping one identify the patterns and literates us emotionally; making a way to actually identify the red flags. Earlier, people used to blame and question themselves for being ‘love-bombed’.
But instead of sitting and communicating, which is the main element of a successful relationship, we are simply putting a label, and nobody really takes accountability for their actions. The labels are said to be a shortcut to the whole story, but what they miss is the real conversation where both partners express each other’s feelings, set boundaries and clarity over simple assumptions.
Just because we have a name for everything doesn’t mean we understand it; relationships work on emotional depth, which requires effort from both parties and not just random labels.
Does digital culture add to this?
Kaif Ahmed, an undergraduate student, shared, “Digital culture is harmful; it’s easy to get polarised by looking at other people’s lives, relationships, or ideologies. People are more engaged in showing off than the actual feelings, as we all are different versions of ourselves when it comes to our online/offline presence.”
Real relationships need time, patience and emotional investment and not instant replies, matches and validations. Knowing the language helps only when you have the skills to handle it emotionally. For instance, if you notice any ‘red flag’, you should be emotionally intelligent to handle it rather than staying there and normalising it.
Everything on social media is scripted as it’s a business, and the aim is to gain profit, but in reality, relationships are not so perfect because emotions are not a business element to sell. Heartbreaks are a part of our lives, and learning the art of detachment is important rather than distancing ourselves from pure connections thereafter.
To conclude, it is very important to know if we are evolving emotionally or just linguistically because language works only when we understand the true meaning; otherwise, it sounds vague and confusing.
Views expressed by the author are their own.
