‘Scrooging’ is the new dating trend that people are being warned is toxic

Dating is difficult any time of year, but there's something about the holidays that makes it that much worse.

Maybe it's the loved-up couples with sickening, matching Christmas jumpers, or the families with their perfectly-decorated front rooms.

And as if that wasn't enough, this time of year brings another pretty sad dating trend to be aware of.

We already know about ghosting, getting zombied and now the increasingly-popular 'Ben stage.'

But this dating trend is directly linked to the time of year - and could happen to even those of us in seemingly pretty strong relationships.

Dubbed 'scrooging,' the toxic trend is named after Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dickens's 1843 short novel, A Christmas Carol.

Known for hating Christmas, the people who partake in this practice share some alarming similarities with grumpy character.

Scrooging in when the person you're seeing breaks up with you around the festive period so they don't have to spend big on a Christmas present.

This could be a blessing in disguise, as it shows your partner wasn't really taking the relationship all too seriously anyway.

And if that's the case, they could possess other selfish traits too, like not taking your needs or feelings seriously and being unwilling to meet your family and friends.

Former divorce lawyer Sheela Mackintosh-Stewart told BBC Three that there's more to it than people being tight.

She explained: “Christmas ‘scrooging’ has become a convenient excuse to dump a partner when they don’t want to deal with the underlying issues and conflicts that are the real issues.

"Around this time of the year, people can become tired and exhausted, with the longer nights and shorter days making people spend more time together.”

She added these factors can encourage 'thoughts of breaking up and going into the new year with a new start.'

Nothing says new year, new me like a new partner, am I right!?

But Sheela also highlighted how, thanks to those damned mobile phones, it's easier than ever to dump someone. She said: "People generally avoid in-person confrontation if they can help it.

"Technology makes it easy for people to send not only angry, hurtful messages to their partners, but also provides a convenient but cowardly means to dump them.”

She added: “Matters are worsened due to the added temptations and distractions available to them from social media, which puts even greater pressure on relationships, requiring couples to work doubly hard to hold them together."