Do you know someone in your friend circle who is always in a relationship? Partners keep changing. But their relationship status never changes. Before a breakup happens, they find a new partner. You might call this behaviour 'cheating'. But Gen Z calls it 'monkey branching'. Deciding who to date next before breaking up a relationship, this is 'monkey branching' and this dating style is extremely toxic.
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What is monkey branching dating style like?
Suppose you've had a breakup. Before even a week passes, you see that your ex has already started a new romance. They're mingling with the new partner as if it's a long-standing relationship. You might find this surprising. How did someone forget everything so quickly? But your ex had already found a new partner before breaking up with you. They were just waiting to break up with you. So as soon as the breakup with you happened, they built a new relationship with another person.
When monkeys or langurs jump from one tree to another, they first grab hold of a new branch. After getting hold of the new branch, they let go of the old one. Drawing similarity with this behaviour, the dating style has been named 'monkey branching', jumping from one branch to another.
Why is monkey branching toxic?
First, while you are in a relationship, you are looking for a new partner. This is completely deceiving your partner. At the same time, you are deliberately breaking up because you want to build a relationship with a new person. Therefore, relationship coaches consider monkey branching to be very toxic indeed. Letting go of an old partner's hand for a new person is not a good thing at all.
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Such people just jump from one tree to another. They don't build permanent nests anywhere. Besides, this kind of behaviour is simply called cheating or deception. While in a relationship, you are constantly lying to your partner and deceiving them.
If you fall into such a person's trap, you'll understand they are a red flag. They cannot have a beautiful relationship with anyone. Actually, such people are afraid to be alone. So when they sense a relationship breaking, they start looking for a new partner. Again, some people's nature is to deceive their partners. Staying with such a person will harm your mental health. So it's better to avoid such people.
