New year, new trends. Each year brings whacky new fads, and 2016 is no different. A trend that is rapidly gaining popularity is ghosting, a new way to end relationships.

Ghosting is defined as not responding to a boyfriend/girlfriend in any form of communication in order to end the relationship. Instead of alerting the person of the end of the relationship, or explaining their feelings, “ghosts” fade out of their partners’ lives completely. Although this method involves no awkward or uncomfortable encounters, it doesn’t leave the relationship on amicable terms.

A study conducted by Cosmopolitan on the subject shows that males are much more likely to be ghosts than the ghostees. They prefer to avoid confrontations with females, mostly because they want to avoid seeing them cry. Cosmo also showed that ghosting is mainly used in newer relationships that haven’t turned out, but rarely in long term relationships.

A different study conducted by Elle showed that 26 percent of women and 33 percent of men surveyed have experienced some form of ghosting, whether they were doing it or it was done to them. This experiment shows that it is becoming a more viable break-up method.

No matter the reason for the end of the relationship, whether it was due to their clinginess or just not seeing a future with them, that person deserves a more proper break up as well as an explanation.

Often times, using the ghoting method can lead to embarrassing public confrontation, just much later than the actual break up. Months or even years later a case of ghosting can be brought up to haunt a person who was trying to avoid any emotional engagement in the first place.

The evolution of break ups has worsened over the years. Gone are the days where people end relationships with a face-to-face conversation, which typically leads to less bad blood. Now even a text message has become too personal for people, and they have resorted to not ending the relationship at all.

Ghosting shows extreme disrespect for others, but requires the smallest amount of personal contact. Besides driving people crazy with curiosity about what they did wrong, it doesn’t effectively end relationships. A different break up method might require more time and energy, but it is worth it to do it the right way.