Digital dating makes it easy for several romantic connections to remain open while one begins to feel more serious. New Hint App findings show how often that ambiguity extends to the point when people must decide whether to close off other possibilities.
A romantic connection can become emotionally significant before either person has defined what it is. During that stage, other conversations may remain active, leaving people to decide for themselves when continuing them crosses from ordinary non-exclusive dating into keeping someone available as a fallback.
A Hint App survey of 13,917 adults across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, European Union, Australia, and Latin America found that this behavior was common among respondents who were actively dating. Of the 8,247 people who said they were currently dating, 58% said they had kept a secondary romantic connection alive while pursuing someone they considered their main interest.
For the survey, “cushioning” included continuing to text, flirt with, or maintain an emotionally available connection with another potential romantic partner while primarily pursuing someone else. It did not require a second relationship or physical intimacy. The definition can overlap with the period before exclusivity, when several people may still be dating at once. Simply remaining in contact with more than one person does not establish that someone is deliberately being kept in reserve.
The behavior was somewhat more common among younger respondents. Among Gen Z daters, 62% said they had cushioned someone, compared with 57% of millennials. The difference is relatively small, while the prevalence across both groups suggests that keeping another connection open is far from unusual among people navigating early-stage relationships.
Timing provides a clearer view of the behavior. Among the 4,783 respondents who had cushioned, 64% said they began maintaining the secondary connection before they knew whether their primary connection would become a relationship. In many cases, the secondary option remained available while the main connection was still undefined. The survey does not show whether cushioning is becoming more common over time, but it does indicate that it frequently appears before commitment has been established.
Respondents also described difficulty deciding when those parallel connections should end. Among people who had cushioned, 52% said they found it difficult to stop talking to another potential partner once they had become emotionally invested in someone else. 47% said they had felt uncomfortable about keeping the secondary connection alive but continued doing it, and 61% said the hardest part was knowing when they were certain enough to stop maintaining it.
That discomfort adds an important constraint to the idea that cushioning is simply a strategy for maximizing romantic choice. For a substantial share of respondents, keeping another person available coexisted with unease about doing so. Emotional uncertainty may help explain the behavior without resolving the ethical question created for the person being kept in reserve.
The survey suggests that many daters know that position firsthand. Among the same 8,247 people currently dating, 55% said they had been the person someone else kept as a romantic backup. The overlap between those who have cushioned and those who have experienced it from the other side suggests that the practice is embedded in a wider period of ambiguity around exclusivity.
The most revealing finding may therefore be the 61% who struggled to identify when they were certain enough to let the secondary connection go. Early dating allows emotional investment to deepen before commitment is explicit, while other possibilities can remain accessible in the background. That leaves a consequential decision to be made before a relationship has a clear label: how much certainty someone needs before they are willing to stop preserving alternatives.
About Hint App:
Hint App is a symbolic, emotional insight platform with over 1.2 million users that combines ancient practices such as astrology, palmistry, and visual soulmate interpretations with modern technology, including artificial intelligence and NASA astronomical data, to deliver highly personalized reports based on a user's exact birth details. Rather than offering predictions or quick fixes, Hint App serves as a reflective framework, helping individuals map emotional patterns, understand the deeper timing behind personal and relationship decisions, and reconnect with their inner clarity.
Hint App is a symbolic, emotional insight platform with over 1.2 million users that combines ancient practices such as astrology, palmistry, and visual soulmate interpretations with modern technology, including artificial intelligence and NASA astronomical data, to deliver highly personalized reports based on a user's exact birth details. Rather than offering predictions or quick fixes, Hint App serves as a reflective framework, helping individuals map emotional patterns, understand the deeper timing behind personal and relationship decisions, and reconnect with their inner clarity.