The Politics of Ghosting: Dominic Pettman on Absence, Intimacy, and Digital Life

What does it mean to live in a world where relationships can vanish overnight, without explanation or closure? In this episode, Acid Horizon speaks with cultural theorist Dominic Pettman about his new book Ghosting: On Disappearance (Polity Press). Together we explore how ghosting unsettles intimacy, accountability, and narrative finality, reaching beyond dating apps into friendships, families, workplaces, and politics. Along the way we trace ghosting as both a form of psychic violence and a survival tactic, a symptom of our digitally mediated lives and a mirror of deeper patterns of absence in contemporary culture. Get the book: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=ghosting-on-disappearance--9781509569946#:~:text=%E2%80%9CGhosting%3A%20On%20Disappearance%2C%20takes,tend%20to%20no%20longer%20believe.%E2%80%9D Discount code: GHO20 Tickets for Durations Festival 2025: https://dice.fm/bundles/durations-2025-b5eo?dice_id=M7371ecc8865&_branch_match_id=1500447579897861230&utm_source=web&utm_campaign=visit_bundle&utm_medium=bundle&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXz8nMy9ZLyUxO1UvL1fc1NzY3TE1OtrAwM7WvK0pNSy0qysxLj08qyi8vTi2ydc4oys9NBQDPsz4mOwAAAA%3D%3D Support the show A…