When Professor Jessica Maddox asks her students at the University of Alabama in class, she sometimes meets Blank, Deadpan looks from the Zers gene in the room.
The appearance has become so frequent that Maddox occasionally resorts to ask for an answer to his students. It was only recently that she knew that this behavior had a name: the “look of generation Z”.
“When I began to hear about the ‘look of generation Z’, and people explained what it is, I thought: ‘Oh my God, this is what happens to me as a university professor’,” said Maddox, associate professor of digital media.
While there are several definitions for the look, the most common meaning is a vacant expression that a gene that Zer gives in response to a question. The look occurs in classrooms, restaurants, at work and more environments.
Often it seems critical and in Tiktok, many Zers gen, generally defined as those aged 13 to 28, they have affirmed that it is because those who are looking are stunned or selfless to commit to what they call, “stupid questions.”
“I don’t think it’s a lack of social skills. I think we don’t care,” Dametrius “Jet” Latham, a Tiktok creator and the Zer genus who recently collected more than 1.4 million visits on a video on the subject said.
The hashtag #genzstare, which has been used in about 8,000 videos on Tiktok, began picking Steam earlier this month and reached its peak on Monday. A search for the term on Tiktok revealed videos that show millennials calling generation Z, and more videos from generation Z firing at the end they seem to find insulting.
Maddox has a theory of why the “look of generation Z” has become so generalized now.
“This [look] A lot of accelerated after returning to the campus after the Covid protocols, “said Maddox, adding that he noticed a” growing amount of silence “after asking questions to his class following the global pandemic.
Due to social isolation during pandemic, many students faced higher mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression. Face to face interactions became less common in the midst of social distancing protocols and many schools temporarily changed remote learning.
Because Gen Zers was socialized during a pandemic, they came to build relationships on social networks, Maddox said. This may have led to the development of unique types of communication skills between those who are 27 years old or less.
In addition, because the majority of the members of the generation do not remember a moment without social networks, they fear that anything they say or they could end up mocking online, or worse, they cancel it.
Some experts say that young people can be seen their elders can be observed since the fifties and sixties, with the emergence of youth culture around rock and roll, Elvis and the Beatles. The white look and other forms of challenge can also be seen in the films of the 1980s, such as “Pretty in Pink” by Howard Hughes and “sixteen candles.”
The last iteration of this challenge is probably not only a distinctive seal of dissent, but also an response to social anxiety developed during the years of formation in isolation.
“I think we are really beginning to see the long -term effects of the constant use of digital media, right?” Jess Rauchberg, assistant professor of Communication Technologies at the University of Seton Hall. “We think of the phone as an appendix to our bodies.”
General Zers is also afraid to be “shudder”, a term that they often use to describe other generations that were before them. Intergeneration disputes have long been a central part of platforms such as Tiktok, they are often stimulated by generation Z. One of the most famous cases of intergenerational falls was the emergence of “OK Boomer”, a phrase used by generation Z and millennials to belittle the oldest generations those who are out of contact.
He doesn’t stop there. General Zers has criticized Gen Alpha, his younger counterparts, for his “blue light look”, an incalculable aspect disconnected from those born between 2010 and 2024. They have also made fun of what they call the “look of main painting”, an aspect that is described as confused or stunned by a answer to a question.
At one time, there was no greater sin for a zoomer than “millennial scoing.” While some zers gene have adopted the label, others are still afraid to be applied.
In Tiktok, the compilations of “Millennial Cing” have received millions of views and thousands of comments from young people who make fun of what they perceive as ancient behaviors, such as calling dogs “doggo”, or doing things like Disney or “Harry Potter” all their personality.
The psychotherapist Robi Ludwig suggested that the “look of generation Z” reflects the gap in social skills between members of generation Z and millennials.
“If it is a processing, it is difficult to imagine that someone did not know how to nod or respond with a smile or simply say” ok “, but we can take some of the social skills that we have developed over the years because we did not have technology to treat and we did not have to be isolated from our classmates,” he said.
As people of other generations make fun of the “look of the Z gene”, many zoomers have returned to the defensive, publishing videos calling people for their criticisms of the trend.
Some younger users online have also clarified what is exactly the “look of generation Z”.
Tiktok Santana, who is a member of the Z generation and works as a cantinero, said in a video that “the customer service look is the worker that a worker gives someone to ask someone something f — stupid.” While, “the ‘Gen Z Stare’ is the main painting that the customer service workers receive instead of the response to anything.”
Maddox, from the University of Alabama, said that this type of online reaction is exactly what some expect, adding that it could be published as a “bait of anger” from the creators to agricultural participation.
“Internet culture loves a generational dispute,” he said.
