'Orbiting' Is The Latest Dating Nightmare Fueling Gen Z's Disillusionment With Finding Love On The Apps...

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In the realm of Gen Z dating, terms like "attachment style," "love bombing," and "breadcrumbing" have turned romance into a nuanced game of strategy and survival.

Social media and dating apps have not only buoyed long-existing dating trends like ghosting, but they also have created unique circumstances for love seekers to contend with. The most recent: orbiting.

If you've connected with a lover on social media, chances are you've experienced orbiting, Camras said. While the experience is common, and not inherently negative, he's noticed that it causes anxiety in many younger people who are trying to read the tea leaves. However, at least one dating app—Hinge—is capitalizing on this trend, and trying to understand why online dating for Gen Z can be so fraught.

To older generations accustomed to relying solely on landline phone calls to connect with a date, the concept of fixating on someone's online behavior may seem absurd. However, for a typical Gen Z dater who has grown up immersed in digital communication, social media norms have shaped their perceptions. For instance, younger individuals may interpret a delay in texting as a lack of interest, and might even intentionally withhold responses to appear aloof or mysterious.

It's one of the most common questions Camras gets as a younger relationship coach: Someone goes on a great first date, and then, leading up to the second date, they notice distancing.

"They're pulling away a little bit, but they're still watching your stories. So then you send them a DM and they don't respond, but they're still active online, and you can see their Snapchat score go up," he said. At the end of the day, however, these signals don't add up to productive information.

Sabrina Zohar, a viral online relationship coach with nearly 900,000 followers on TikTok, agreed, arguing that social media features have led many young people to delude themselves with signals that aren't meaningful. Tracking someone's activity stimulates a "dopamine drop and cortisol high," causing young people to become obsessed with creating narratives that aren't rooted in reality, she emphasized.