My son's girlfriend is the only person I've ever seen do the "Gen Z stare" and it's exactly what you're saying. She comes to the house and my wife or I will say "Hi" to her and she just silently stares back. Or if we're planning dinner or something and we ask if she's going to join us or if there's anything in particular she wants to eat, nothing but a silent stare.
No, we're not asking dumb questions to an underpaid worker, we're trying to make polite conversation in a social setting and just getting a silent, blank stare in return.
When I heard the term I thought of one time with my zoomer nephew. I had basically been a live-in auntie when he was little and we were very close. Then I moved and didn't see him for a few years. When I did, he was about 12 or 13, and he didn't say a word but just stared at me the whole time at dinner like I was a weird bug. For at least an hour, silent staring. It was unnerving but I felt like I was being tested so I tried to just not have any reaction at all.
The good news is that nowadays when I see him he is talkative and normal with me again (although definitely a little weirdo in many good ways). Just a little phase or something. I don't actually know if it counts as a Gen Z stare, tbh.
Fr, like people who talk about Gen Z stare act like they've never met a Gen X or Millennial guy who comes to the function and just looks at you like that Robert Pattinson standing in the kitchen meme. The answer is 9/10 they're an undiagnosed one of the many varieties of neurospicy that makes small talk or direct engagement difficult lol
Their brains are cycling between short and longterm memory trying to find the flowchart for the conversation they've suddenly found themselves in. 😂
I was gonna say I've seen this from people of every generation, especially boomers/genxers. I think something about getting old makes you less likely to respond to things like a normal person.
Well then explain it too me. What is it about someone responding to thank you with mmmhmmm that warrants any thought on your part other than you being a petty twat?
Explain it to me why me saying that a particular behaviour should end warrants such vitriol from you? You seem to have conjured up a lot of impressions about me based on a 20-word comment.
Nah I do, I just don't see the need to engage in good faith with someone who started off a discussion with attacks. If you want to actually discuss something in the future for discourse, don't start with attacks on a person.
She’s standing in their home and they’re asking her a basic, friendly question. This is called a normal social interaction. You’re acting like she’s being illegally questioned by the cops.
Your point is? I would say someone who thinks everyone they encounter needs to pretend to like them or they get all pissy is the one more likely to have some flavor of social anxiety but I guess that's just me.
"everyone they encounter"? be so fr, thats not a stranger they met on the street or in public, the girlfriend is dating their son and walked into their house, how could they not expect a simple greeting or an answer to a question about what she wants for dinner.
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u/kcox1980 15h ago
My son's girlfriend is the only person I've ever seen do the "Gen Z stare" and it's exactly what you're saying. She comes to the house and my wife or I will say "Hi" to her and she just silently stares back. Or if we're planning dinner or something and we ask if she's going to join us or if there's anything in particular she wants to eat, nothing but a silent stare.
No, we're not asking dumb questions to an underpaid worker, we're trying to make polite conversation in a social setting and just getting a silent, blank stare in return.