My friend Megan recently had an argument with her cousin, but says she still sees her name popping up on Facebook and Instagram. A few mentioned that they’d noticed friends and family members with whom they’d experienced a falling out were “orbiting” them - interacting with their social media without communicating in a real, meaningful way. As she describes it, you’re “close enough to see each other far enough to never talk.”Īfter reading the article and finally having a concrete name for my experience, I discussed the trend with friends and found that most of them had experienced orbiting themselves, and not always from an ex-romantic partner.

I didn’t know what to call it at the time, but in a recent piece for Man Repeller, writer Anna Lovine used the term “orbiting” to describe when a person leaves your life but still appears in your social media world - by watching your Instagram stories and Snapchats and even liking your Facebook posts, they’re still in your orbit. It’s just social media, right? So why did I care so much? His potentially mindless double-tapping forced me to break our non-contact with a text I felt pathetic asking him to knock it off. They felt like pity likes to me - something he was doing to soften the blow. While in theory it may sound nice to know that your ex is still interested (and looking) at what you’re doing, in reality, seeing his handle pop-up again and again actually made me feel worse. After a bad breakup a few years ago, my ex spent the first few weeks of our split “liking” every photo I posted on Instagram.

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