Latest news with #genZ
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Have you been a victim of the ‘gen Z stare'? It's got nothing on the gen X look of dread
Have you been the victim of a gen Z stare? Maybe you have but didn't realise, because you didn't know it existed, so let me explain: gen Z, now aged 13 to 28, have apparently adopted a widely deplored stare: blank, expressionless and unnerving. The stare is often deployed in customer service contexts, and many emotions can be read into it, including 'boredom, indifference, superiority, judgment or just sheer silliness', according to Forbes, whose writer described his unease in Starbucks when faced with a 'flat, zombie-like look that was difficult to read'. Hang on, aren't oversensitive snowflakes supposed to be younger people, not journalists my age? Has a generation ever been so maligned as Z? Probably, but I'm mortified by the mutterings about gen Z, when they are so self-evidently at the pointy end of older people's poor past (and present) decision-making. They don't get jobs, homes or a livable planet – but we're getting huffy about their 'rudeness' and 'lack of social skills'? Anything short of blending us into their protein shakes seems fair to me at this point. But I do get it, sort of. Young people have been treating their elders to scornful stares since homo sapiens first gruntingly suggested a 'nice walk' to their offspring, and it's easy to get defensive and lash out. As a 'meme scholar' suggested, crushingly, to NPR: 'Maybe what we're witnessing … is some boredom, especially with who they're interacting with.' That's exactly what I was afraid of. But everyone succumbs to the odd vacant stare and it's not necessarily directed at, or derogatory to, the stare-ee. I'm not qualified to parse gen Z stares (maybe they're thinking about matcha; maybe they're actually mewing?), but I can definitely explain some reasons my own people, gen X (aged between 45 and 60), go starey, slack-mouthed and silent – and why it's almost certainly not about you. We can't hear getting a bit deaf but struggling to accept it, so we're fumbling our way through the world with context clues and inept lip reading. If you say something and we just stare blankly, we're probably trying to decide whether to deploy one of our catch-all non-committal responses ('mmm'; 'right?') or ask you to repeat yourself. Again. We suspect one of our idols is standing behind that Thom Yorke or your kid's design-tech teacher? Winona Ryder or some woman you recognise from wild swimming? We need to know. Something you said triggered a memory of a public information film we saw at primary school.'Building site'; 'railway line'; 'fireworks'; 'electricity substation': there are so many trigger words that summon a horrifying mental kaleidoscope of doom. We've just remembered we were too 'cool' to top up our pension, ha ha ha, oh that realisation hits, mid-conversation, and we need to take a beat to fight the rising tide of panic. We've heard an unusual bird call but it would be rude to use the Merlin app on our that a redstart? Something weird is happening to one of our teeth.A filling coming loose, a tooth crumbling, some kind of searing, definitely expensive, pain? Mortality starts in the mouth. We started thinking about the 19-year-old Reform councillor in Leicestershire who is now responsible for children and family the 22-year-old one in charge of adult social care who previously said 'depression isn't real'. Just an ill-defined, increasingly uneasy sensation that we've forgotten something important meeting. Our passwords. The keys. Your name. You said something we don't get 'slay' and 'mid' and we hoped we weren't 'delulu' to believe we 'understood the assignment'. But you've just come out with an expression so baffling, we are simply unable to deduce any meaning from context. Maybe we are going to 'crash out'? Just give us a silent, sweaty moment. You're watching video on your phone without this one is about you and it's entirely deserved. I use my eyes to try to bore decency into sodcasters; I just wish my eyes were lasers. We're existentially we just lapse into a thousand-yard stare that semaphores: 'Help, reality has become overwhelming; I need to disassociate momentarily.' And who, of any generation, hasn't felt that this year? Perhaps the blank stare is actually proof there's more that unites than divides us. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Have you been a victim of the ‘gen Z stare'? It's got nothing on the gen X look of dread
Have you been the victim of a gen Z stare? Maybe you have but didn't realise, because you didn't know it existed, so let me explain: gen Z, now aged 13 to 28, have apparently adopted a widely deplored stare: blank, expressionless and unnerving. The stare is often deployed in customer service contexts, and many emotions can be read into it, including 'boredom, indifference, superiority, judgment or just sheer silliness', according to Forbes, whose writer described his unease in Starbucks when faced with a 'flat, zombie-like look that was difficult to read'. Hang on, aren't oversensitive snowflakes supposed to be younger people, not journalists my age? Has a generation ever been so maligned as Z? Probably, but I'm mortified by the mutterings about gen Z, when they are so self-evidently at the pointy end of older people's poor past (and present) decision-making. They don't get jobs, homes or a livable planet – but we're getting huffy about their 'rudeness' and 'lack of social skills'? Anything short of blending us into their protein shakes seems fair to me at this point. But I do get it, sort of. Young people have been treating their elders to scornful stares since homo sapiens first gruntingly suggested a 'nice walk' to their offspring, and it's easy to get defensive and lash out. As a 'meme scholar' suggested, crushingly, to NPR: 'Maybe what we're witnessing … is some boredom, especially with who they're interacting with.' That's exactly what I was afraid of. But everyone succumbs to the odd vacant stare and it's not necessarily directed at, or derogatory to, the stare-ee. I'm not qualified to parse gen Z stares (maybe they're thinking about matcha; maybe they're actually mewing?), but I can definitely explain some reasons my own people, gen X (aged between 45 and 60), go starey, slack-mouthed and silent – and why it's almost certainly not about you. We can't hear getting a bit deaf but struggling to accept it, so we're fumbling our way through the world with context clues and inept lip reading. If you say something and we just stare blankly, we're probably trying to decide whether to deploy one of our catch-all non-committal responses ('mmm'; 'right?') or ask you to repeat yourself. Again. We suspect one of our idols is standing behind that Thom Yorke or your kid's design-tech teacher? Winona Ryder or some woman you recognise from wild swimming? We need to know. Something you said triggered a memory of a public information film we saw at primary school.'Building site'; 'railway line'; 'fireworks'; 'electricity substation': there are so many trigger words that summon a horrifying mental kaleidoscope of doom. We've just remembered we were too 'cool' to top up our pension, ha ha ha, oh that realisation hits, mid-conversation, and we need to take a beat to fight the rising tide of panic. We've heard an unusual bird call but it would be rude to use the Merlin app on our that a redstart? Something weird is happening to one of our teeth.A filling coming loose, a tooth crumbling, some kind of searing, definitely expensive, pain? Mortality starts in the mouth. We started thinking about the 19-year-old Reform councillor in Leicestershire who is now responsible for children and family the 22-year-old one in charge of adult social care who previously said 'depression isn't real'. Just an ill-defined, increasingly uneasy sensation that we've forgotten something important meeting. Our passwords. The keys. Your name. You said something we don't get 'slay' and 'mid' and we hoped we weren't 'delulu' to believe we 'understood the assignment'. But you've just come out with an expression so baffling, we are simply unable to deduce any meaning from context. Maybe we are going to 'crash out'? Just give us a silent, sweaty moment. You're watching video on your phone without this one is about you and it's entirely deserved. I use my eyes to try to bore decency into sodcasters; I just wish my eyes were lasers. We're existentially we just lapse into a thousand-yard stare that semaphores: 'Help, reality has become overwhelming; I need to disassociate momentarily.' And who, of any generation, hasn't felt that this year? Perhaps the blank stare is actually proof there's more that unites than divides us. Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- General
- The Guardian
The joy and satisfaction of accepting our ageing
I couldn't agree more with Moya Sarner (No, age isn't just a number – and the sooner we realise that, the happier we will be, 14 July). One of the article's key messages is that time and tide wait for no man – a phrase dating back to Chaucer in 1395, yet still resonant today. Sarner suggests that those who resist the natural passage of time often find less contentment than those who embrace life's stages with maturity and flexibility. It's a timely reminder that each chapter of life holds intrinsic value and that real growth isn't about clinging to youth but about evolving into deeper, more authentic versions of ourselves. The phrase 'age is just a number' might sound harmless enough, but as Sarner cautions, overreliance on such slogans can mean we miss out on the richness that comes with ageing and change. Resistance to emotional maturation and personal growth isn't just a gen Z or millennial problem – it spans all generations. As a trainee psychotherapist (and undergoing personal therapy myself), I've seen how powerful it is to root oneself in the present. The goal of psychotherapy isn't to discard the playfulness or idealism of youth but to integrate those qualities into a grounded adult self. No book, podcast or clever quote can shortcut the real work of growing up – emotionally, spiritually and psychologically. The actor Carrie Fisher once said: 'Youth and beauty are not accomplishments.' Yet in a culture fixated on self-curation, the celebration of youth and aesthetic perfection, that message often gets drowned out. Sarner's article is a welcome nudge back to reality and to responsibility. Perhaps, paradoxically, that is where true freedom MorrisDunmurry, Belfast Quantum physics apparently tells us that all time is here at once. But time for us flesh-and-bone creatures is intimately experienced as a journey of growth and ageing. I turned 70 recently, and a friend brightly assured me that 70 is the new 40. But at 40 I was raising two children; at 70 my children are raising their own. The maiden, the mother and the crone: at 70 I enclose them all, like rings in the tree. As Tom Waits sang in Take It With Me: 'Children are playing at the end of the day / Strangers are singing on our lawn / It's got to be more than flesh and bone / All that you've loved is all you own.' The work of growing up takes a lifetime, though, as TS Eliot observed: 'The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew tree / are of equal duration.' Cecilia Lenagh Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia I will be 82 this year – I spent the first 39 years of my life in England. The second 39 years in California. I came back to England four years ago. I feel no different. Of course there are certain things I can no longer do – like run up a hill or drink three pints of beer in one go – but that's just physical stuff. Emotionally, mentally, spiritually and politically I feel the same as I did 50 years ago. In your article you write about 'the devastating reality of the passing of time and the losses it brings'. I would suggest that this is simply a circle of the tree you currently find yourself in. Savour your memories, enjoy the present – and look forward to the future, however long or short it AshwellMawgan-in-Meneage, Cornwall Thank you for this insightful understanding of the thousand little losses one experiences as a mother when simultaneously celebrating the advent of independent adulthood for your child and equally mourning for, and aching with, the pain of missing those beautiful baby moments that defined life. The term 'empty nest' never quite encapsulates the full extent of the emotional depths, whereas her daughter's 'gooster' becoming her scooter resonates. I still miss the 'huggy bugs' who mysteriously and invisibly propelled my daughter (now 25) into the room for early morning cuddles, never to reappear after the age of CrownWivenhoe, Essex Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Perth Now
18-07-2025
- General
- Perth Now
Common sense or common rudeness? The gen z stare explained
There is a debate heating up online about the 'gen Z stare'. If you haven't heard of it (or been on the receiving end of it), it's when a member of generation Z, approximately those born between the mid-nineties and late 2000s, respond to a question (usually from a gen X or millennial) with a blank stare or confused and irritated look. It's most often used by those in customer service roles, including retail workers, restaurant servers and bartenders, in response to being approached by customers who attempt small talk, have a request or ask a seemingly simple question that may have an obvious answer. Videos on TikTok defending criticism of the look allege its the behaviour of customers and coworkers that prompts the blank stare. In one video posted to TikTok, user 'Maddy' shows a clip of her working in a pizza shop with the caption ''The Gen Z stare is so rude' You just asked me if we sell pizza.' If you've ever worked in a customer facing role, then you probably share Maddy's pain. Some online have pointed out that it is a response to the lack of social skills developed by this particular generation, who have grown up in a world increasingly dominated by screen-time interactions, not to mention a global pandemic that had them shuttered inside for a couple of years. TikTok user Amy Halldin has another theory. She points out that millennials are used to the 'millennial preformative politeness', where they have a need to feel comfortable and make others feel comfortable too, something gen Z deems unnecessary. 'They have no interest in making you feel comfortable,' the TikTok user mentioned, 'their silence is their response.' Others say, it's just rude. One person's good manners and small talk is another person's waste of time. Which generation has the right idea? We all have our opinions.
ABC News
16-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
What is the gen Z stare and what are young people trying to tell us? Experts explain what is happening
A deadpan glare is not unique to any age group, but gen Z is becoming known for theirs. Discourse about the "gen Z stare" has taken over social media. On TikTok and X, people are debating about the stare, which seems to only occur in gen Z. So what is the gen Z stare and why does it happen and what are young people trying to tell us? Here's what to know: The "gen Z stare" is the blank, expressionless stare some gen Zers will give in place of a greeting or small talk, commonly seen in customer service jobs. According to KnowYourMeme, the first known mention of the gen Z stare appeared on TikTok on July 29, 2024, in a post by @ However, the discourse on the stare began to trend on various social media platforms in mid-2025. The look, likened to a deer in the headlights, can appear emotionless and passive, and the intention is subject to much online debate. Some say the reaction is given when someone makes a stupid comment. Others describe the stare as similar to "buffering" to understand what has been asked. Many are quick to point the finger at increasing screen time, claiming it is impairing social skills. However, some describe it as a symptom of over-tiredness from working in the demanding and often low-paying retail and hospitality industries. Gen Z is typically defined as people born between 1997 and 2012. Key features of this group, according to the Stanford Report, are that they are the first to not experience the world without internet, they value flexibility and diversity, and many spent their early to late teens in lockdowns due to COVID-19. Social researcher Mark McCrindle said gen Z made up 30 per cent of the workforce and roughly half of the casual retail workforce. He said that was likely why the stare had become associated with that particular generation. Many gen Zers finished their high school education during lockdowns, leading to a preference for online study. Mr McCrindle said their research showed gen Z also had a preference for online shopping and interacting with chatbots rather than call centre staff to solve customer service issues. "So their own preference is just for the efficiencies of interaction through technology," he said. "Yet for their paid work, they're having to interact with people face-to-face. "When that's an older generation, that's where you sometimes get those generation gaps really emerging." However, psychology lecturer at Edith Cowan University Shane Rogers said there was no definitive scientific evidence that lockdowns had caused any social skill impairment. But he said it was possible, having spent formative years in "a very strange situation" that was the COVID-19 lockdowns, could have had a lasting impact. "I do think that that potentially could have contributed to what the current social norms are with the younger generations to an extent," he said. "But it's probably that plus the more basic level increase of communication via online social media that that generation grew up with." Gen Zer Grace, born in 1999, is a self-confessed starer. She said she did not think the stare was purposeful or trying to convey anything in particular. "It's more just like a disconnect, maybe when things get overwhelming or you're annoyed or there's a lot of pressure on something, it's more it just kind of happens," she said. To her, it's not a rude response, not even to greetings or small talk. "I don't find not having a response to small talk as an offensive thing when I'm hanging out with my own age or hang out with someone who's older than me." She said while she understood how small talk worked, in social interactions with people in her age group, talking to strangers was not a priority. "We just have a different type of conversation norm that's very different from when I see my parents go to barbecues, for example," she said. Being part of the generation raised on the web means Grace is also meeting more people virtually. "Talking on the internet, you skip that initial small talk phase, you're straight to the top of the conversation because someone said something interesting about a TV show you like or someone sent you a meme or someone's reposted something, you're immediately into the specificity of a conversation topic and not the small talk of it. Mr McCrindle said the stare could also be a disconnect with changing language and expressions. For example, an older customer might try to order a "malted milk" that is now more commonly known as a "milkshake", confusing the server. This can also occur in emerging styles of stores. For example, frozen yoghurt stores that require self-service and weighing are easy to navigate for a gen Zer, but customers in other generations might have questions on how they work. To a gen Z server who finds the system simple, the stare could convey confusion as why someone else is having difficulty. It could be likened to an older person asking a millennial how to print a PDF — an obvious task to the younger person but unfamiliar to the person who grew up before computers. Within the customer service industry specifically, where previous generations had been expected to be consistently pleasant, it could harbour resentment for the younger generation being less performative. Mr McCrindle said gen Z valued authenticity, which meant they were not always "prepared to play the game" in customer service jobs, particularly in roles they knew were not long-term. "They aren't overly dutiful to employers, they're aware of their rights and what they need to do," Mr McCrindle said. "They might say it's authenticity … but it does come across as being a bit cold or uncaring. "It's not that they don't care, it's just that they want to be real and not sort of put on the fake voice and the fake warmth." However, Dr Rogers said the social shift could also be influenced by millennial managers. "Maybe they didn't like having to do that so much because it felt a bit fake and they're not pushing that onto the younger generation," he said. Dr Rogers said staring was a natural part of human behaviour and used to convey a variety of different messages. "It can be used to show boredom. It can be used to sometimes show … apathy or disdain," he said. He said part of the reason the gen Z stare could feel awkward was a misinterpretation of meaning from the older generations, particularly when they believed it was a message of disdain. The stare could also be used to pause and consider a response, Dr Rogers explained, where older generations were more likely to instantly respond. Unique generational behaviours are not exclusive to gen Z. Millennials (1981-1996) are often made fun of by gen Z for the "millennial pause" — a brief pause at the start of a video recording. Their predecessors, gen X (1965-1980) labelled millennials selfish, with Time Magazine printing a cover calling them the "me me me generation". Gen X's elders, baby boomers (1946-1964), have labelled them as "lazy" due to their stereotyped cynicism. And baby boomers even have their own version of the stare — known as the "lead paint stare", implying baby boomers blankly stare as a result of poisoning from lead-based paints used prior to their ban in the 1970s. What all these stereotypes have in common is they are observations of other generations. [shane] Dr Rogers noted that generation comparisons were being ramped up, particularly on TikTok. "This has been going on for some time, and the 'gen Z stare' simply seems to be the latest iteration of this," he said. "Generations have been doing these comparisons for time immemorial, but nowadays there is this medium that allows for those conversations to be ramped up. "If there were more boomers and gen X that use TikTok, you would probably see more conversations about that as well, but the main users are millennials and gen Z right now, so that is where a lot of the conversation is at." It might be. The gen Z stare has already had a page created on KnowYourMeme. Users on X and TikTok have created several memes about the stare.
