As an early 90’s millennial, I’ve never noticed a “gen z stare” as described in news articles like a “blank face that shows lack of social skill or ability to think”. The only times I’ve witnessed it happen and seen the older person accuse them of “gen z stare” is when the older person says something off hand or dumb but isn’t self aware enough to realize they’re being weird. Hell, I’ve given people a blank face countless times because I was taught it was better to say nothing at all sometimes. Especially when it came to talking to older people at work.
I remember when I was 16, some middle aged guy at work accused me of having no personality. In reality, I kept all conversations short as possible with him (like almost everyone in the store) because they were casually racist and misogynistic.
I’ve run into it, I think. Went out to eat with the wife and as we walked into the restaurant the hostess just stared at us, then picked up two menus and started walking. We were like, “Do we follow her or…?” And so, sheepishly, we followed her and she did indeed lead us to our seats. It was a couple weeks later when I first heard of the Gen Z stare. I showed my wife and we were like, oh… That was it, we guess.
I’ve seen it a couple other times - recently at CVS the guy at the pharmacy counter would just sort of stare at each customer without really acknowledging them until after they said what they needed. No greeting or pleasantries of any kind, and then he would go into his standard cvs scripted questions.
why words wen none good
(I’m GenX, [1980] but I’ve always thought a lot of “polite” “social” habits are dumb.)
refusal to engage in smalltalk is laziness
small talk is fake conversation
not being able to accept that you have nothing interesting to say
It’s letting the other person know that you consent to discussion and that you appreciate their company. People who don’t do this are lazy and selfish.
Laziness is my choice and a virtue in my profession and my preferred operational method.
Laziness is selfishness when your actions negatively affect other people. Selfishness is not a good person’s trait.
You don’t get to blame me for your reactions, only my (in)actions.
When no words accomplishes the task just as well, it’s not selfish to avoid small talk. The fact that you find it rude or impolite is your problem, not mine.
Which is selfish of you :) QED friendo. Have a day!
how does absence of small talk negatively affect other people
It might make them uncomfortable. If you don’t make polite small talk, they won’t know if you’re a safe person to be around. Did you not know that?
Whether someone makes polite small talk seems like a weird way of judging people’s trustworthiness, although, people will reveal stuff about themselves in conversations. But the things that reveal trustworthiness are more likely to be mentioned in serious conversation than in small talk.
that’s correct! good job! and small talk is the polite predecessor to serious conversation. that’s why it’s important :)
Funnily enough, the only time I’ve experienced this was also at a CVS.