There’s also the fact that you can communicate (therefore not ghost) in ways other than face-to-face. If someone is dangerous or makes me uncomfortable, I’m not putting myself in that situation, but sending a message is courteous.

I also wonder if there’s an expectation of time investment in OP’s face-to-face comment. If I’ve been chatting with someone on an app, or had one date but didn’t hit it off, I think a text is perfectly acceptable and doesn’t count as “ghosting” either.