Ghosted

Walsh explores the psychological effects of the phenomenon of ghosting throughout the book. Through descriptions of the way the uncertainty that characterizes modern dating affects individuals, Walsh suggests that the primary reason that being ghosted is such a difficult experience is that it entails a complete lack of closure.

Throughout Ghosted, many characters address the role that technology plays in dating, and Walsh describes being ghosted as a common experience. Grappling with how out of character her own behavior feels to her, Sarah notes that: “I had seen friends do this. I’d watched in amazement as they claimed that his phone was broken; his leg was broken; he was broken, wasting unseen in a ditch” (38). The desperate search for an explanation for a romantic interest’s lack of communication is represented as the shared experience of searching for closure when it isn’t readily available. Characters in Ghosted describe this experience as being closely connected to technology. When Tommy tells Sarah that she’s “never done anything unbalanced like this before,” she replies, “that’s because I didn’t own a mobile phone when I met Rueben. Maybe it’s because the Internet barely existed back then” (173). The prevalence of different technological modes of communication throughout the book highlights the complexity and indignity of the experience of being ghosted, as Sarah uses email, phone, Facebook, and Eddie’s website to attempt contact.