Is the Gen Z Stare The Result of Brain Rot – Or Is it Something Bigger?

Recently, TikTok has been abuzz with the trend coined as the ‘Gen Z Stare’. In summary, the Gen Z stare, as the millennials and Gen X are calling it, is a vacant, blank stare that those born between 1997 and 2012 exhibit. Usually, this stare, according to 

The Mental Health Crisis Among A Digital Generation

There is no sugarcoating it: there is a mental health crisis among Gen-Z. The reality is that there is a large divide between older Gen-Z people and the younger ones. As an older Gen-Zer, I can confirm this.

Anecdotal evidence is usually not the recipe to prove your point, but in this case, it applies. Those of us born in the late 1990s were the last generation to experience the world before technology took over.

Yes, we had video games, TV, cartoons, PCs, and laptops, but we also played elsewhere. As a child, I spent many hours playing The Sims on my PC and PlayStation 2, but I also spent a lot of time outside. Younger Gen Zers born in the 2010s or late 2000s grew up as technology was exploding. They did not know a world before smartphones and social media.

Riding bikes on the pavement, playing on the trampoline in the garden, and playing imaginary games with my soft toys were a part of life for us now in our mid-twenties. On the other hand, younger people in Gen Z who are teenagers now were raised on technology; they were raised on YouTube, online games, iPads, and now, ChatGPT and TikTok.

In the 2010s, there was a huge increase in social media usage among preteens and young teenagers. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat became increasingly popular, and with them came the rise of influencers and online personalities.

While new entertainment mediums and people became internet famous, a mental health crisis was born. Constantly being bombarded with Instagram models and celebrity photos filled with plastic surgery and filters is altering the brain chemistry and a generation as a whole.

For young girls, there is an impossible beauty standard now, and with the resurgence of the skinny Tumblr era on TikTok (just look at Skinnytok), mental health among young girls is in the gutter.

While I had this pushed onto my feed on Tumblr as a teenager, it is worse with the comments section on TikTok filled with young people commenting on each other's weight, looks, makeup, hair, and natural features unsolicited.

At least on Tumblr, you could delete comments and hide things from your feed. On TikTok, your FYP bombards you with popular videos from creators and once you interact with one video, you get a thousand more of the same variation.

Vanity aside, the normalisation of daily vlogs and Day in the Life videos on social media has led to non-stop comparisons of young people. Often, comments sections reek of envy and people wondering why they don’t have a Birkin bag at 21, or a huge apartment, or a massive wardrobe like their favourite influencers do.

This has created a generation of unhappy young people, striving to do more and constantly searching for the next biggest thing, whether that is a job, a house, a weight loss goal, or a trend to follow.

In the end, social media is to blame for a lot of the anxiety and depression in Gen Z, because we are all wrapped up in FOMO.

Social Interaction Decline: A Generation Warped By A Virus

One weird historical event that Gen Z lived through is the 2020 pandemic, which swept the world back in March 2020, shutting down life as we know it. Think about it, for someone in their formative years, namely teenagers and university students, this would have a massive impact on their social life and social abilities.

Many younger people saw their lives become digital as they turned to online school on Zoom and saw their friends through video calls on Discord or Houseparty. For months in most countries, socialisation was limited to standing two feet apart and interacting through a screen.

A study by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 65 percent of Gen-Z respondents said that the pandemic made pursuing career aspirations and goals harder. As for other generations, lower percentages were reported.

Additionally, another study by Mt. San Jacinto College surveyed Gen-Z participants on their feelings about the pandemic. On the skills Gen-Z identified they were not prepared for due to the pandemic, they listed speaking in front of crowds, networking, and negotiating.

So what does that tell you? Many Gen-Z, those in their early twenties and late teens, missed out on those crucial social moments. For those of us who are older, we were more fortunate to have work experience and education before the pandemic.

For myself, social interactions and social skills were not greatly affected by COVID, as I’d completed most of my university experience by then. But for those who were just three years younger than me, the beginning of their university journey turned into quarantining with flatmates and online lecturers. No lectures, dates, or parties, just the same four walls and shared kitchen.

Imagine how much they missed out on socially! Maybe that’s why they find interacting with people face-to-face difficult. Even those who are teenagers now missed out on those crucial months as young children, having education in person, playing in the playground with their mates, so they likely developed a reliance on technology for education and socialisation.

And we aren’t just talking about Google, but other online education platforms, with no choice in the matter.

Maybe that’s why when you enter an establishment and are served by a Gen-Z employee, they look vacant, but really, they feel socially inept because they missed out on those crucial interactions and soft skill building.

The Rise of Remote Work

Even though older people in Gen-Z worked before and during the pandemic, the increase and normalisation of remote work altered social interactions in the workplace. Removing the in-person working model for five days a week during the pandemic is bound to impact the way a person socialises.

Especially in corporate jobs, where calls and meetings went online, and you have to learn how to socialise with people through a video call. Chat became more casual, and meetings, though conducted professionally, were all virtual.

Gone is the office small talk or the icebreaking of first meetings, or coffee mornings each Monday.

Stunting face-to-face communication has stunted interpersonal skills, and because many of us in Gen Z have continued to work remotely, we have forgotten what in-person interactions look and feel like at work.

I know for me, this is the case professionally. Believe it or not, it is hard even with my professional experience to work in person in a team, when I'm used to e-meetings only.

Even customer service jobs are now done online. The increase in virtual assistant jobs and jobs in similar fields means that Gen-Z is born and stays in chatrooms, talking to customers about order numbers, not behind a counter.

Digital Compliance Or Digital Reliance?

In the case of Gen Z, perhaps the biggest reason why Gen Z exhibits that stare is that we simply rely on technology too much. To an extent, this one is self-inflicted. We are a generation addicted to smartphones and short-form gratification, so long conversations are our worst nightmare.

However, the continued use of smartphones, social media, and text conversations has made us uncomfortable with unexpected and face-to-face conversations. That’s why other generations make fun of us for not wanting to have phone conversations, but it is also increasingly clear that these days, we don’t have to.

Many brands and customer service portals now exist through online chats, where audio and conversations aren’t required beyond texts and AI chatbots. We have become increasingly guilty of ignoring and dismissing uncomfortable conversations, because we can delete the chat or ignore people.

In real life, this makes it much harder to deal with conflict. Let’s say at work, if there is a problem or a customer is unhappy. Maybe that is why some Gen-Z employees look confused, because they don’t have the necessary skills for conflict resolution.

Whatever you believe to be true, the Gen Z stare does not originate from something random. Rather, it is much more complicated than that. Gen Z, across the board, is the first digitally literate generation where technology is integrated into every aspect of life, making online communication the preferred method for us.

However, worldwide events and social media also have affected the way we perceive ourselves and how we navigate areas of life such as work, friendships, and dating.

So next time you find yourself giggling about the ‘awkwardness’ of Gen Z and the stare, think about why it’s happening. It is not just brainrot or technology decreasing our attention span; we are complex beings. 

Digital reliance and the decreasing necessity of in-person conversations have changed how we socialise forever. As individuals, it is up to us to work on those soft skills and break the Gen Z stereotype.