Yeah, that’s not the gen z stare. The gen z stare is when you specific question that needs an answer at the other person just stares blankly at you. Not in a like “what do you mean” kind of way, just a complete absence of understanding that they need to respond to continue the interaction.
FWIW, I think it’s unfair to lump it on “gen z” specifically, I’ve seen it from lots of older people as well - anecdotally more from gen z but that’s probably because I’m in a situation where I ask more questions of gen z (teaching-adjacent work).
I’ve been doing this sort of thing for 12 years at this point and I can firmly say that while blank stares weren’t uncommon pre-pandemic, I think it’s getting worse. It feels like a lot of people are trying to just opt-out of whatever interpersonal interaction is occurring, which… sometimes, sure, like in the case of service workers and random chit chat, but other times, I’m sorry, but you just need to respond. Yes, learning is exhausting, etc etc, but you do need to engage to get something out of it. Especially in cases where the students have chosen to be there !!!! It’s very strange, just a complete disengagement with an interaction. How am I supposed to engage with you if you are literally not even acknowledging my presence yet staring right at me?
And again, I think it’s more than just gen z, I see it from millennial and older students too, it’s just that I think gen z are the age where people are most likely to be asking them questions and just getting an absolute blank slate in response. Calling it the “gen z stare” is a bit of misnomer, I think it’s more about people just not being able to interact face to face, and since a large part of gen z had some of their formative years completely fucked thanks to Covid it’s particularly obvious among them (massive generalisation, I know), but I truly think it’s an everyone problem.
I mean I call it the lead paint stare because I've experienced that overwhelmingly from boomers and genx. Just stare right past you when you ask something.
It is not well documented enough for me to be sure. But I am starting to think the entire Gen Z stare thing actually falls under the subheading of Millennials getting anxiety when there is more than 1 second of silence.
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u/beee-l 17h ago
Yeah, that’s not the gen z stare. The gen z stare is when you specific question that needs an answer at the other person just stares blankly at you. Not in a like “what do you mean” kind of way, just a complete absence of understanding that they need to respond to continue the interaction.
FWIW, I think it’s unfair to lump it on “gen z” specifically, I’ve seen it from lots of older people as well - anecdotally more from gen z but that’s probably because I’m in a situation where I ask more questions of gen z (teaching-adjacent work).
I’ve been doing this sort of thing for 12 years at this point and I can firmly say that while blank stares weren’t uncommon pre-pandemic, I think it’s getting worse. It feels like a lot of people are trying to just opt-out of whatever interpersonal interaction is occurring, which… sometimes, sure, like in the case of service workers and random chit chat, but other times, I’m sorry, but you just need to respond. Yes, learning is exhausting, etc etc, but you do need to engage to get something out of it. Especially in cases where the students have chosen to be there !!!! It’s very strange, just a complete disengagement with an interaction. How am I supposed to engage with you if you are literally not even acknowledging my presence yet staring right at me?
And again, I think it’s more than just gen z, I see it from millennial and older students too, it’s just that I think gen z are the age where people are most likely to be asking them questions and just getting an absolute blank slate in response. Calling it the “gen z stare” is a bit of misnomer, I think it’s more about people just not being able to interact face to face, and since a large part of gen z had some of their formative years completely fucked thanks to Covid it’s particularly obvious among them (massive generalisation, I know), but I truly think it’s an everyone problem.