My husband recently read an article at slate.com on the value of ghosting. He showed it to me and asked me what I thought. I have to say I am torn.
Ghosting is the practice of simply fading away from a party without telling anyone. It means at the end of the night you pick up your things and quietly slip away without stopping to say goodbye.
This practice would never work at a small gathering. If there are less than about 8 or 10 people involved, your absence would be noticed and the conversation would soon turn to how rude it was to abandon them. It also could be a safety issue if you are heading out into the dark alone. People should know you have left so they know you are safe.
However, at a large party the goodnight conversation has its own awkwardness. You get your things together and you search the party for your host. You track them down in the middle of a conversation. First you patiently wait for a pause; trying not to awkwardly switch from foot to foot.Then you either find a natural pause and insert your "Excuse me" or you give up after several minutes of waiting and rudely interrupt. Either way, you interrupt the conversation. You then make your small talk to say goodbye before heading out.
The question is, is it more rude to interrupt them to say goodbye or to leave without saying goodbye? What do you think? Feel free to post a comment.
Here is the link for the original slate.com article:
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fine_whine/2013/07/ghosting_the_irish_goodbye_the_french_leave_stop_saying_goodbye_at_parties.html
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