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.
Who’s rude in that situation? Pretty sure anyone who beats people over nothing is a universal dickhead.
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.