“Hello, how are you?” Are you looking at it from a young neighbor or a deer in a headlight, or from a teenage customer service worker?
Tiktokers say it has its name – “Gen Z Stare.”
Users on the platform say they refer to the vacant gaze that young people give in response to small talk, simple customer service questions, or workplace enquiries. Hypothetical skits on the platform are laughing at Gen Z responses.
This is causing a broader conversation about the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of chronic technology use, when Gen Z (a cohort born between 1997 and 2012) lacks communication skills in the workplace and social settings.
What is Gen Z Stare?
Gen Z Stare is a term used to refer to blank, expressionless appearances, which is a characteristic of young people’s interactions. It may manifest as a troublesome encounter with a barista or a lack of verbal response from a colleague.
Most of the virus skits portray the stares of customer service interactions. There, Gen Z Cashier or customers respond with blank, wordless gazes where sometimes small talk fills the blank, sometimes as a result of meaningless questions.
“Little exhausted teenagers are teenagers who work part-time trying to endure school while paying bills,” one commented with 2.3 million views from tiktalker Mark Gaetano, known as the snarky marquee on the platform. “Gen Z Stare usually just a complete believer in what we are witnessing,” says another.
However, commenters from other generations argued that gazes go beyond the typical customer service blank face.
“We’re talking about staring when everyone tries to have a normal human interaction with you, like a body, and you all Yoo freeze,” one Tiktkar posted.
Social skills shaped by 24/7 technology and pandemic
The video sparked intergenerational discourse. Some Zers defended the stare as an answer to illogical questions from their customers, while others accepted it as a reflection of social interaction anxiety.
And gaze could be the result of the hampering social development of Gen Z during the pandemic. Online schools and social distance during lockdowns have influenced the way people of all ages navigated face-to-face interactions and troubling social situations.
Furthermore, according to 2024 data from the Pew Research Center, almost half of teens say they are always online.
Called the “Anxiety Generation” by social psychologist Jonathan Hyde, Generation Z is more anxious and isolated than the older generation. Former US surgeon general Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, voiced a warning of loneliness during his term, explaining that young adults are almost twice as likely to report feeling lonely than those over the age of 65.
From jabs about millennial pauses to boomers’ struggles to understand emojis, there are jokes about communication skills of every generation. Whether it is rooted in the social anxiety caused by the pandemic or in changing workplace norms, it is a sign of how young people are involved with the world around them.
Rachel Hale’s role in covering youth mental health at USA Today is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editor input. Contact her at rhale@usatoday.com@RachelLeighhale x.
