When I first posted a call out for stories from women who had been ghosted, I received more responses than I could possibly know what to do with.

Ghosting, for the unfamiliar, refers to the act of ending a personal relationship (in this case, a romantic relationship) with someone suddenly and without any explanation.

As I read through these women’s stories, I realised that while ‘ being dumped ‘ is awful, it’s not nearly as awful as learning that the person you were dating did not even think you were worthy of dumping.

“The embarrassment…” one woman reflected. “The embarrassment of having to tell people that you’ve been dumped but actually never got dumped – just deleted from someone’s life via the internet…”

Listen to Sophie Monk’s love lessons. Post continues below.

While ghosting isn’t new, necessarily, its omnipresence in the modern world is.

They’re always there, right in your back pocket. And you’re always there, right in their back pocket.

They could text you at any moment if they wanted. And thus, in every moment, you’re reminded that they don’t.

There were women I spoke to who had found themselves deleted from the social media accounts of the person they thought they were dating. Others rang one day, to discover their number had been blocked by a person they were meant to be having dinner with that night. Years on, one woman is still waiting for an explanation as to why their boyfriend of seven months decided to abruptly cut off all contact, without providing her with so much as a text message.

But there were a handful of women I spoke to, who did one day discover ‘why’ they had been ghosted.

These are some of their stories.

Elizabeth, 25

Genevieve, 29

Monica, 32

Frieda, 20

“A guy I met on Tinder and really liked ghosted me out of nowhere, and then about two weeks later provided a totally valid reason. I asked him, ‘Why didn’t you just tell me??’

He felt we were just really different people. He was a partier, drinker and smoker, while I don’t like heavy drinking or smoking, and was looking for a serious relationship.”

Neesha, 34

Katarina, 24

I raged for a bit, then did the Insta-chop (blocking and then unblocking him so we weren’t following each other anymore), and tried to forget about it.

He told me that the girlfriend had moved to China now, so did I want to pick up where we left off?”

Listen to the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues below.

Jazmin, 26

Danielle, 35

Mika, 30

“I met a guy on Bumble (my first bumble date ever). At first, I wasn’t sure if I was attracted to him but we went on a second date anyway. He seemed SO into me, texting me all the time, making plans and following through, he even drove all the way from Brisbane to Byron Bay for one night just to see me because I was staying there for five days and he ‘missed me’.

I started to like him and we were seeing each other and sleeping together for a couple of months. Then out of nowhere, he started acting distant. He slept over at my place one night (against my better judgement…) and in the morning I asked him, ‘will I see you again?’ He replied, ‘yes you will’.

Then, I didn’t hear from him. I sent him a couple of messages but he never replied.

About a month later I received a long message at 1am from him apologising, telling me that he’d had a lot of problems at work and one of his friends had received a bad health diagnosis and that was the reason he stopped talking to me.

He wanted me to know that ‘It had nothing to do with you but I also don’t expect you to forgive me’.

I replied and said it was fine and I understand. I’ve never spoken to him since.”

If you have a story about being ghosted, you can email me at jessie.stephens@mamamia.com.au.