Gen Z stare

• Generation Z stare

Gen Z stare (plural Gen Z stares)

1. A blank stare given in response to a question or statement, claimed to be a common behavior of members of Generation Z.
   • 2025 July 14, Nicole Stock, “Yes, Gen Z Is Staring at You. The Question Is Why.”, in The New York Times (Style section)‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 July 2025:

     When Valerie Jefferson, 23, posted a video about the “Gen Z stare” on TikTok, she did not expect it to start a fight. Her video, which documented one interpretation of the meaning of the stare — the blank look of someone in a service job who is handling frustrating requests from a customer — unleashed a torrent of intergenerational debates.

   • 2025 July 18, Kalhan Rosenblatt, Steven Romo, “Gen Z is staring at you. It may be more than just a quirk.”, in NBC News‎^[2], archived from the original on 27 July 2025, Culture & Trends:

     When professor Jessica Maddox asks her University of Alabama students a question in class, she is sometimes met with deadpan looks from the Gen Zers in the room. / The look has become so prevalent that Maddox occasionally resorts to begging her students for a response. It was only recently that she learned this behavior had a name: the “Gen Z stare."

   • 2025 July 23, Erin Kayata, “What is the ‘Gen Z stare’?”, in Northeastern Global News‎^[3], Northeastern University, archived from the original on 27 July 2025:

     The Gen Z stare is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a term used to describe the vacant look a Gen Zer gives in response to a question or statement. The phrase has caught fire online and sparked conversation about why younger adults do this.