What Is "The Gen Z Stare"?

There’s a new trend dominating the social media, and it’s dragging young people for their perceived lack of social skills. Dubbed "the Gen Z stare," this blank-faced look is allegedly how many young people are engaging with the world around them — by, well, simply not.

While it isn’t something every member of this 13-to-28 age range generation does, the stereotype has struck a chord online, with many social media users joking that they’ve seen it themselves out in the wild — with a waiter, a customer in a shop or even students in a classroom.

In a recent video, TikToker Janaye explained the phenomenon: "The Gen Z stare is specifically when somebody does not respond or just doesn't have any reaction in a situation where a response is either required or just reasonable," she said. She recalled a situation on a recent flight in which she instructed a member of Gen Z to put a bag under her seat, only to be met with a stare instead of a response.

@abovethecrest It would be funny if it weren’t sad. #genzstare ♬ original sound - Janaye’s Jumpseat

TikToker Trevon Woodbury demonstrated the stare in a video in which he acted as a barista in a coffee shop, opposite himself as a member of the young generation. He captioned the video, "Always shocked that someone is speaking to your irl and not on a phone screen. Still love gen z tho."

There’s no secret that millennials and Gen Z love to poke fun at one another on the internet. After all, before there was the Gen Z stare, there was the “millennial pause,” a term used to mock the short pause millennials take before starting a video — apparently a relic from a time when video recording didn’t always start immediately upon hitting the button. And that’s on the heels of jokes about millennial passion for Harry Potter houses and high-angle selfies. So it’s no surprise that millennials are jumping on a joke at Gen Z’s expense.

But there’s also some evidence to suggest that the Gen Z stare could be connected to something deeper: like how Gen Z is lacking in so-called soft skills, such as the ability to make small talk. For example, a 2023 survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that approximately 90 percent of graduates avoided in-person events because of social anxiety. Meanwhile, nearly 25 percent said they felt uncomfortable speaking up in team meetings.

And it’s more than just the workplace: In a survey conducted by British restaurant chain Prezzo, 34 percent of respondents age 18 to 24 said that they were too nervous to speak to waiters when they went out to eat, and asked the person they were with to communicate with them instead. Many videos featuring the Gen Z stare specifically reference this younger generation’s avoidance of speaking with waitstaff.

The question of course is ... why? It’s important to note that Gen Z is the most online generation — and they also came of age during a pandemic, where social distancing was encouraged and many schools and jobs went fully remote.

The generation has less time to practice speaking to strangers, perhaps affecting their confidence when they are required to do so. In a video about the stare, TikToker Sassa called the look a "physical manifestation of what it looks like when you don't grow up with enough human interaction."