Have you heard of ‘cushioning?’ Neither had we, but it’s another one of those new dating terms like “benching” and “breadcrumbing,” that we need to get familiar with so we’re up to date on all relationship lingo. And ‘cushioning’ doesn’t have anything to do with adding pillows to your sex life, it’s about creating a cushion of people.
According to Urban Dictionary, cushioning is “a dating technique where along with your main piece you also have several ‘cushions,’ other people you’ll chat and flirt with to cushion the potential blow of your main break-up and not leave you alone.”
So basically, it’s keeping some “just in case guys” around who you text and chat with, and plan to pursue if things fall apart with the person you’re dating. It’s not cheating really, but more like pre-cheating. Some might think it’s harmless, but if you found out your S.O. was cushioning you with a few people they were stringing along on the side, it probably wouldn’t feel so innocent.
Sure, it would soften the blow of a breakup to have an instant rebound person there to ease your pain, but is it worth deceiving the person you’re seeing now? Probably not. Dating is hard and being dumped is awful, but cushioning is pretty bad too.
Source: The Berry