Teens Are ‘Soft Launching’ Their Relationships – Here’s What It Means

When Meredith Masony’s 16-year-old informed her that she’d initiated “a soft launch with a boy”, the mum was a little bit perplexed to say the least.

The parent took to social media to share that her teen daughter had been on a number of dates with a boy, so she asked her whether things were getting serious, to which her daughter responded: “Well to be honest, we did a soft launch tonight.”

“I was like: ‘I’m sorry what?! What did you do?’” said an incredulous Masony (@thats_inappropriate) in a video which has almost a quarter of a million likes.

While it might sound like an innuendo, a soft launch is where you subtly hint at a relationship online – you don’t necessarily share who your partner is, but you do share snippets to your social media followers. Maybe a couple of glasses on a table for ‘date night’, or a photo of their hand in yours.

It’s all very cryptic. It’s secretive. It’s a bit more private than full-on Facebook official (or whatever today’s equivalent is).

Soft launching is not exclusive to teens – although it does seem to be popular among them – as The Knot explains “it’s a light-handed, slow-moving way to show just enough of your new boo on your Instagram stories or social media that family, friends and onlookers may assume you’re in a relationship – but don’t have all the deets quite yet”.

For Masony’s daughter and her maybe-boyfriend, the “soft launch” involved going to a “niche” place, taking pictures of each other on the same street, and then posting the photos of themselves to their respective social media accounts.

As the teen told her mum: “So if you follow both of us you would see and you would know [that we’re together].”

Masony added: “I said, ‘wait, so let me get this straight, you didn’t want to just tell people that you were dating, you want them to guess. Is this a game?’”

While it might seem a baffling concept, it’s easy to see the appeal – a soft launch enables an element of privacy while also letting teens enjoy admiration and engagement from their social circles. It can also help them maintain their sense of self.

A hard launch is basically when you tell the world you’re in a relationship – there’s no ambiguity there, it’s a full on statement of: we’re an item. It’s a photo of you on a date together, holding hands, or kissing. You’re tagging them in photos. It’s all very official.

In a video update, Masony shared her daughter has since “hard launched” the relationship and added: “There have been snaps and texts and chats that have occurred on social media. Everybody is aware of the situation.”

And now comes the fun part!