Ghosting may refer to any of the following:

  1. A ghost image is a permanent discoloration in a certain area on an electronic display; more specifically, those who use cathode ray tubes. See our burn in page for further information on this term.

  2. When describing an LCD or flat-panel display, ghosting describes an artifact caused by a slow response time. As the screen refreshes, the human eye still perceives the image previously displayed; causing a smearing or blurring visual effect. When LCDs were first introduced, ghosting was a common problem with cheaper displays. Today, LCD ghosting is rarely experienced.

  3. When talking about a relationship, ghosting describes when a friend or someone you’re in a relationship with suddenly stops communicating with or unfollows you. When someone ghosts you, you’ll get no notification or explanation with the hope you (the ghostee) gets the hint.

  • Monitor, LCD, and display help and support.

Why would someone ghost me?

Below are some reasons someone may ghost you online.

  • If you’re dating the person, it may be their way of saying they no longer want to date or have met someone else.
  • You posted, shared, or liked a post that the ghoster doesn’t.
  • The person feels they don’t know you well enough in the real-life to be apart of their social network.
  • The person is busy or distracted by real-life events.

What should I do if I’ve been ghosted?

If you feel as if you’ve been ghosted, don’t dwell on the situation and move on with your life. Anyone who ghosts another person for no good reason, is immature, and doesn’t respect you as a person. You don’t want to be friends or in a relationship with this type of person.

  1. Ghost also describes a person who has gone offline, but appears to be logged in to chat or another service. When this occurs, the user will receive an error indicating they are already logged in upon attempting to rejoin, forcing them to wait for their account time out.
  • Protect children from harmful material and people on the Internet.
  1. Ghosting is a form of cheating in online games where players are privileged to information they shouldn’t have about another player’s whereabouts, hand, etc.

For example, in many first-person shooters, dead players may disclose the location of living players on the opposing team to their teammates. Another example would be watching a Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft player who is streaming on Twitch to discover what cards are in their hand.

  1. When using Norton’s Ghost, ghosting is the method of copying the complete hard drive contents to a CD or network drive. Once ghosted, this image can be distributed over several computers. Ghosting is commonly done in a corporate environment where the same operating system and corporate software needs to be installed on many different computers.

Burn in, Chat terms, Game terms, Mirror, Video terms

  • See our Norton Ghost page for further information on this product.
  • See our Symantec company page for more information about the Norton Ghost developer.