Mastodawn

Is the "Gen z stare" a real thing?

Is the "Gen z stare" a real thing? - Lemmy.World

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.

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JakoJakoJako13 1d ago

I’m also an early 90s baby. It used to be you’d say something back when you caught someone staring at you. Like hey take a picture it’ll last longer. Then the one staring would out of the moment, crack a joke back, and be done with it. Now it’s that moment going on too long and the person engaging the stare doesn’t even acknowledge it afterwards. My brother’s girlfriend does it all the time. The other day I’m getting ready to leave and opened my door to go to the bathroom and the girl stopped what she was doing to glare at me. No hello, no good morning, no thought behind those eyes. Just nothing. I put my hands up like I got arrested and she snapped back to what she was doing without acknowledging my existence.

It’s almost as if nobody told them staring is rude. It’s weird. It sucks.

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lmmarsano 1d ago

Staring isn’t rude. People are awfully self-conscious. People can just be. Weird is fine.

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JakoJakoJako13

Maybe it’s a culture thing then. I grew up in a city where I was told if you look at someone the wrong way they’ll beat your ass. I’ve seen it first hand too. You get the wrong person at the wrong time, staring can lead to a fight.

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lmmarsano 1d ago

I grew up in a city where I was told if you look at someone the wrong way they’ll beat your ass.

Who’s rude in that situation? Pretty sure anyone who beats people over nothing are universal dickheads.

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JakoJakoJako13 21h ago

The aggressor. Have you never been in a situation where you’re walking down a street and lock eyes with someone and they yell back ‘the fuck you looking at?’ Staring can be so much more than nothing. We’ve spent all our evolution as a species adding meaning to different looks and stares.

The eyes convey so much emotion. You can look at somebody and tell exactly how they’re feeling just by looking at their eyes. That’s the problem with the Gen z stare. There’s nothing behind it. It’s startling when you receive it. My immediate reaction to it is usually ‘is there something wrong here?’ Then to attach a judgment like you’re stupid to it by the person doing it is off-putting.