He Stopped Talking To Me But Likes My Pictures (12 MUST-KNOWS!)

Social media is how we stay in touch and connected to everyone we know, and liking a picture that someone posts means something! This is why it is so confusing when he takes the time to hit like, but not to send you a message.

What does it mean when he has stopped talking to you, but he likes your pictures?

It can mean a whole lot of different things when he does this, and it will depend on your past relationship and where both of you are at in your life. He might be trying to keep you on his radar, and vice versa, or he might genuinely just like seeing your pictures!

If you are left in this confusing position, read on to figure out what it might mean, and what you should do when he communicates in likes and not words!

What Does It Mean When He Likes Your Pics But Stops Talking To You?

A simple like of a picture should not be that confusing between friends, but when all he does is like your pictures, but doesn’t send you a message, and has stopped speaking to you, it can be understandably complicated.

If you want to try and figure out why he might be doing this, then take a look at the below reasons why a guy might stop talking to you, but still keeps liking your pictures:

He Is Staying On Your Radar

He might not have any plans to see you or talk to you right now, but he wants to keep the options of ‘you’ open. To do this without having to put in the effort of conversation, he would simply like your pictures, making sure his name pops up every now and then for you to think of him.

He is hoping that his presence on your like list will leave a lasting impression that he could hopefully use at a later stage when he wants to start talking to you again. In his mind, it is better than having no contact at all and then reappearing to chat later on.

He Is Keeping His Options Open

Liking someone’s picture takes next to no effort, and as crude as it sounds, liking photos might be a wonderfully easy way for him to keep himself involved in a whole lot of ladies’ lives, without having to do much at all.

Liking a picture is innocent enough, so he cannot get caught out for doing it to multiple women. It is not as risky as having a meaningful conversation with all of them, and it takes less time and effort.

This is obviously not the type of person you would want to be with, as you are just another name in the hat for him, waiting for when he decides that you are the flavor of the week again and he starts up a conversation with you after a long time of being silent.

He Misses You

There might have been a good reason why the two of you have stopped talking, or the conversation might have faded away and he does not know how to start it up again.

Because of this, he might think that the best way to work his way back into your life is to like your pictures. This is non-commital and it doesn’t come across as too strong, so he would try to do this for a while, to hopefully remind you of him, and to eventually start talking to you again.

He Feels Awkward

Not everyone is a master of dating and the opposite sex, and the way things were left between the two of you might have left him feeling really awkward about the situation. There might still be feelings between the both of you, but he doesn’t know how to approach the situation.

The best way he knows how to respond to this is by liking your photos on social media. He thinks that ignoring your presence online might be too harsh, and sending you a message might be too forward.

In his awkwardness, liking your pictures is what he thinks is appropriate behavior for the moment!

He Wants A Reaction From You

He might not want to be the first one to start up a conversation again after the two of you stopped talking, so instead, he likes your pictures in the hope that you might give him some sort of reaction.

You see him liking your photos, so you send a message reaching out – that is what he is probably hoping for in his mind. It does make a tiny bit of sense, but if he left things in a bad place between the two of you, or if he ghosted you, then you probably won’t be very tempted to send him a message.

He Just Appreciates Your Pictures

Maybe he really does just like the pictures that you post online, and he shows his appreciation by liking them!

He could also be the type of person who is really generous with his likes on social media, and it isn’t necessarily anything specific to you, but rather everyone on social media whose pictures he enjoys.

This is his harmless way of staying in touch and showing that he still cares, even if it doesn’t ever go any further than that.

Read Next: Signs He Only Wants You For Your Body

He Feels Guilty

He might not have felt too much when he ghosted you, but now that he has had some time to think it over and now that he sees how well you are doing through the pictures you post, then he could be feeling guilty for how he acted.

He probably does not feel comfortable with messaging you and thinks that you might not be very receptive to any message that he sends, so instead, he takes the easier route by liking your pictures.

Don’t buy into this act – the fact that he ghosted you in the first place shows his intentions, and if he really did feel so bad and wanted to apologize, he could at least send you a message saying so.

He Wants Attention

Some guys love the chase and love the attention they get from girls but do not actually want anything to do with them at the end of it all.

By liking your pictures, he could be challenging himself to see if he can grab your attention again. The two of you might have stopped talking, but now he sees it as a game to find out whether or not he still has you on his hook.

This is all just a game to him, and it is better to stay far away if you can, and not to buy into this immature game that he is playing. You should be with someone who deserves your attention, not someone who just wants to play around with it until they decide it isn’t entertaining anymore.

He Is Softening You Up

Maybe he has realized that he actually misses you, and he wants the two of you to start talking again. He thinks that simply messaging you outright won’t work, so he tries to soften you up a bit by liking your photos.

After some time of liking and reacting to your pictures, he might start commenting, and even work his way up to sliding into your DM’s.

Whether you are receptive to this or not will be up to you, but just make sure you don’t get yourself into something you don’t want to be a part of!

What To Do When He Likes Your Pictures But Doesn’t Talk To You

So, he is liking your pictures, but he couldn’t be bothered to talk to you. The conversation and friendship that the two of you shared have disappeared, only for his little likes appearing on your pictures every now and then. So what should you do?

If you are left stuck on what you should do when this happens, take a read through some of our suggestions below on how to act, to make sure you are always putting yourself first, and not falling for any of his potential games!

Don’t React

If he really did like you and wanted something genuine to happen, then he would take it upon himself to message you and let you know that he was interested.

Simply liking your pictures is not good enough, and you shouldn’t give him the reaction that he wants and craves. You cannot be sure of his intentions by only seeing likes from him, and you might give him some reaction only for him to drop you all over again.

Carry on with your life as normal, give him one like in return if you feel it is necessary, but then leave it at that.

Know His Intentions

Knowing how to react helps if you know what his intentions are behind liking your pictures, but not talking to you. There might be no intention at all behind his likes, but then this means that you do not have to do anything.

However, if you think that there is something more behind his likes, try and look at your past relationship, his reputation, and how he treated you previously, to try to work out what it might be.

If he is known to be a player, or if you know he craves attention, then it is best to ignore his likes. However, if there is still potential between you two and there weren’t any bad vibes when you stopped talking, then you could be a little more open to his likes.

Focus On Yourself

The most important thing that you should do when trying to work out what it means when he likes your pictures and has stopped talking to you, is to focus on yourself.

Don’t spend your time thinking of him and what it could mean, and rather spend your time doing the things that make you happy and carrying on with your own life.

The best thing you can do is live your best life possible, and show the world some pictures that would really make him jealous and regret his decision to stop talking to you!

What Is Orbiting?

We are all familiar with ghosting and as horrible as it is, it is quite easy to recognize. The new trend that is being recognized now is orbiting, and it is even more confusing than simply being ghosted.

Orbiting is when someone stops talking to you, or lets you know that they are not interested in anything further with you, but they still interact with you on social media. This can be liking your pictures, commenting on posts, or favoriting your tweets.

Orbiting can be even more frustrating than ghosting because of the mixed signals sent your way. They aren’t putting themselves in your life, but they are orbiting around you through small encounters on social media.

Now that you know what orbiting is, here is why someone might do it:

They Have FOMO

He might have made it clear that there isn’t a future for the two of you,  but then he keeps himself in your life by liking your photos. A very good reason for this is that he has FOMO (fear of missing out)

He knows you’re a great catch and wants to try and stay involved in your life, even though it is just virtually through social media. Orbiting your life is good enough for him to feel as though he is involved enough, without the added commitment that comes from actually being with you.

Its A Power Move

Although you are not talking, he might want to show his presence on your profile by liking your pictures. This could be that he wants you to be reminded of him and how he ghosted you in real life, just to feel like he has a little bit of power and control.

It could also be to show other people that he is somehow involved in your life, almost asserting his dominance through liking your pictures.

He Doesn’t Know What He Is Doing

The truth could also be that he has no idea what he is doing, and is no more enlightened in the situation than you are.

He might not be aware of what the consequences of his actions might be, and might not realize how confusing it might be that he is liking your pictures.

Most of us are not experts when it comes to dating and how to act if things go south, and usually learn from these types of situations once it has all ended!

Ghosting Or Orbiting – Which Is Better?

If there is no potential for anything to ever happen between the two of you, then we think ghosting is a much better option. This is not in any way saying that ghosting is easy to deal with and accept, but it is at least a very clear end to things in its own way.

Orbiting only keeps you on a small hook in his life. He is taking up space in your life by liking your pictures and staying semi-involved from a distance, but he couldn’t actually be bothered to put any more effort into forming a friendship or relationship with you.

Neither is a very respectful way to treat someone, and honesty is always the better option, no matter how difficult it can be, but not everyone is capable of this, and cutting ties cleanly with someone is better than orbiting around them and causing more confusion than anything else.

Should I Message Him?

Do not message him if he is continuously liking your pictures. He made the decision to stop talking to you, so it should be his decision to make amends and reach out to you again.

What you do from there will be completely up to you, whether you feel comfortable starting up a conversation again, or if you want to be the one who ends contact this time around.

Don’t buy into his game and think that him liking your pictures means anything significant. If he really wanted to chat, he would just as easily slide into your DM’s.

He Stopped Talking To Me But Likes My Pictures

Dating is such a confusing game sometimes, and social media can make it that much more complicated. Even if you are not dating someone, once they stop speaking to you, they can still keep you confused by liking your pictures on social media.

The best thing you can do is ignore it and count it as just another like. There is no effort behind the like, and that means you should not put in any effort back. He can message you again if he wants to, and it should not be left in your hands to decide to make contact again.

You deserve someone who can give you more attention than just orbiting around you!

Before you go, check out our related articles:

• How To Make A Guy Regret Ghosting You
• Should I Text A Guy Who Ghosted Me?
• How To Move On From Someone You Never Dated