Orbiting
What it is
A silent digital presence after contact has ended: watching every story, occasional likes, staying connected without speaking. Passive surveillance that keeps you on alert.
Does this sound familiar?
How it gets justified
“I'm not talking to you — I just saw your story.”
Silent presence keeps you on alert. It isn't contact, but it isn't absence either. The disengagement process can't complete because the presence signal never fully turns off.
“I can't help seeing you — you show up in my feed.”
Algorithms don't make anyone watch every story, like old photos, or stay connected without speaking. This is passive surveillance, and the body reads it as such.
Often escalates toward
When a behavior stays unnamed, the nervous system stops registering it as alarm — and the door opens to what comes next.
Related patterns
Something feels off but you can't name it?
An exercise to listen to what the body already knows.