‘SABSing’ explained as latest offline dating trend takes over Gen Z

With a growing number of Gen Z stepping away from dating apps and hoping for a rom-com-style organic love story, it’s no surprise that ‘SABSing’ has become the latest dating trend.

Even though it never had a specific name before, you’ll definitely be familiar with it, and may have even participated in yourself without realising.

‘SABSing,’ which stands for ‘to see and be seen,’ is a term that’s more widely used on US college campuses, but is making its way to UK universities and beyond.

Essentially, it means being in the right place at the right time to manufacture a sliding-doors moment.

It’s hanging around in a specific public spot where you know you’ll run into someone, such as your uni crush, to increase your chances of hitting it off.

The term has become widely known at the University of Pennsylvania, after reportedly originating in the student publication 34th Street.

SABSing stands for ‘see and be seen’ and is already a phenomenon in the US (Getty Stock Image)

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Natalia Castillo, wrote in 2024 that ‘SABSing is an art - you duck for cover when you see that ex you swore you never wanted to see again, but you eagerly try to make eye contact with your class crush’.

But she added that it’s not just about yearning or being seen by others; it’s also a way to offer yourself up to the possibility of a spontaneous interaction happening.

In short, you won’t meet the love of your life if you’re just sitting inside your room all day.

If you’re sitting in the main section of the library, though, looking mysteriously out of a window and sipping on a coffee, who knows what might go down.

It sounds confusing, because it is just going outside, but it’s doing so with purpose, people watching, and hoping that someone might come over and strike up a conversation.

Josh White, an industrial design student at RISD, told Town & Country Magazine that SABSing is ‘like people watching, but also exhibitionism in a way,’ while Metro reports that the goal is to ‘make an impression’.

It's essentially trying to manufacture a spontaneous moment (Getty Stock Image)

Gen Z are becoming increasingly obsessed with the idea as it offers a different way of living to constant Google Calendar plans and structured schedules.

SABSing is the opposite of going somewhere that’s TikTok famous just to snap a quick photo and go home, it’s staying and lingering in the hopes of making an impression.

One X user penned: “Nothing is more ego-crushing than sabsing and receiving no attention whatsoever.”

While someone else added: “Went sabsing today (sat on a bench in the sunshine to eat grapes, read a book, and bask in my anonymity).”

And another person joked: “Sabsing is fun until you are just constantly being seen.”

So, next time you see someone reading under a tree on campus, kicking a ball around their own before class, or lingering around the printer in the library, remember they might just be SABSing…