As exciting as it is to meet new people, dating can be a challenge these days. Sometimes you talk to someone for weeks, go out with them a handful of times, and they just disappear on you. It’s become so common that most people brush it off, but it can still get you down.
This very thing recently happened to a good friend of mine, whom we’ll refer to as Amy, and while she is handling it well, she still certainly has some frustrations around it. She’s not looking for her “forever person,” but she would like to date someone kind and emotionally available.
Amy and I first met a few years ago at a baseball game, through some mutual friends, and we quickly hit it off, bonding over our shared love of dark romance novels and crafting. Since becoming close friends, we’ve had painting parties together, gone skiing, taken pottery classes, and started a thriving book club. However, while I’ve felt very happy and satisfied with life, Amy’s been missing something… romance.
When we first met, she had a long-term boyfriend. They had a lot of love for one another, but after about a year, things started to sour. Amy’s boyfriend was working a lot, and it started to take a toll on their relationship. One day, while heading to his office to surprise him for lunch, Amy was told that he’d already gone to lunch with another co-worker. When she pulled up to the restaurant where they were eating, she saw her boyfriend holding hands and being flirty with another woman, his co-worker. When confronted later, he admitted everything and moved out.
Fast forward two years, and Amy is doing well. She’s moved on from that toxic relationship, things are going great at her job, she has an adorable new puppy, and our friend group is regularly getting into all kinds of fun activities and adventures.
Amy has dated a handful of guys over the past year and a half, after giving herself some time to get over her ex, but none of them made it past three dates, tops. That was, until Mitch came along. (Obviously, that’s not his real name, but we’re using aliases to protect everyone’s privacy.)
Mitch works as a salesman at a prestigious car dealership. He’s an avid outdoorsman and runs every day, so his physique is quite admirable (I’m sorry, Amy, but you know it’s true). Amy and Mitch had the most unbelievable meet-cute, first making one another’s acquaintance when their pups started playing together at the dog park. It’s literally like a scene from a rom-com movie.
Their first date was a couple of days later. They went to a rock climbing gym, which is the exact opposite of any kind of date I would ever want to go on, but it was perfect for Amy. They spent about a month getting to know each other over beach days, bottles of wine, and more dog park dates.
Everything seemed really good, and then Mitch just stopped texting back. Amy sent him a message one evening the next day, there was no response. Later that day, still no response. She texted again, and still nothing. She even tried calling, and it just went to voicemail.
Amy checked out his social media accounts just to see if there was any activity, to make sure he didn’t die or something, and there was. Nothing salacious, but he’d liked some recent posts, so she knew he was still alive. He just wasn’t returning her calls or texts. She’d been ghosted.
Now, this certainly isn’t the first time she’d experienced ghosting, but it was the most time she’d spent with a guy who ended up ghosting her, and it’s stung a little more this time around after putting herself back out there following her breakup.
So what’s a friend to do? There’s only so many times I can call him a scumbag and tell her she deserves better. Then I remembered someone at my office told me about this, Radio Optimism, from LG. You can put in a little prompt, describing a situation that you or someone else may be going through, and it will make up an encouraging little tune about it for you.
It was super easy. Following the prompts, I wrote a little about what Amy’s been going through, chose a tone for the final tune and genre (pop, obviously), and Radio Optimism produced a track called “You Deserve The Best.” With lyrics like “Sometimes love can seem like a test, but don’t forget you deserve the best.” The song also impressed how much I support Amy and am in her corner, which gave me a warm feeling to know that would be conveyed.
I sent it over to Amy. After a few minutes, she texted me back: “This is AMAZING,” with a couple of laughing emojis, “Thank You!” The song had perked her up and given her a reason to smile. It made me feel good to be able to do that for her.
Now, I wouldn’t say this replaces the use of artist-created music, like say the several Taylor Swift albums that have been on shuffle for the past week, but it was an invaluable tool in showing Amy that she was seen. Her disappointment was understood, and someone (me) wanted her to know that she is worth so much more than wasting her time on a jerk who doesn’t have the guts to let a girl down respectfully. Having a personalized song to cheer her up clearly had a profound impact on her, and I could tell it was special.
I think that message landed. Amy’s been so much better the past couple of days, and we even have a camping trip planned for this weekend that she and I are excited about. Sometimes, it just takes a little time and encouragement to get over that heartbreak hill. If you have a friend going through a rough patch, I highly recommend making them a song with Radio Optimism to cheer them up.
Visit RadioOptimism.LG.com to try it yourself.
The post Why Are We Still Ghosting People in 2025? appeared first on VICE.
