The Gen Z Stare - Who Cares ? - August 9, 2025

Gen Z Stare

Does the world really need another article written about Gen Z? Probably not, but here I am writing one anyway. The idea for this article first came to me when I kept reading about the “Gen Z Stare”. “What is that?”, I thought. When I researched it, I learned it is a blank stare Gen Z have typically, but not exclusively, when they’re in an in-person customer service role, and get asked something by the patron they're serving. I saw videos online of the Gen Z Stare, and I’ve never experienced that blank look from a Gen Z. Once I understood what this alleged phenomenon was, and that it was being attributed to COVID lockdowns, this topic didn’t resonate with me. However, I am a big fan of the Gen Z age group, their potential and their no-nonsense attitude towards life. So this article will instead capture my take on this exciting cohort of young adults.

My two sons are both Gen Z, and they and their friends that I know do in fact exhibit many of the characteristics commonly noted about this age cohort. But why do they behave this way? Below we’ll discuss the common traits of Gen Z and I’ll offer some explanations based on my own experience dealing with this age group.

Generation Z, or “Gen Z” are those people born between 1997 and 2012. In 2025 they will be people between the ages of 13 and 28. As such some Gen Z are still in high school, some in college or university, and some are several years into their careers. My sons are aged 26 and 23, and their friends are generally the same age. I have two nephews who are also in their mid-twenties and another nephew and niece who are high schoolers. These are my frames of reference, and I’ll admit that my perspective may be biased as these are all family members. That bias will be tempered by my understanding of my sons’ friends that I know, and their characteristics.

Gen Z are digital natives, meaning they grew up with easy access to reliable internet. For the older segment of this group, social media was introduced to the world while this cohort was at a very young age, and they adopted social media at the inception. Most Gen Z are provided with smartphones before their teenage years, so for the latter segment of this age cohort, they grew up with social media already present and somewhat mature. As a result they only know life with digital technology.

Regardless of our age we’ve all become dependent on the internet, and we all expect to have readily available access to the internet through wi-fi or data plans on our phones. Boomers, Gen X and Millennials all know a period of their life without digital technology, and experienced the birth of digital life when internet connectivity wasn’t a given. Remember dial-up connections to gain internet access? Gen Z never experienced this. As a result, Gen Z’s tolerance for internet access outages is very short - they just expect to have access at all times. All the Gen Z I’m familiar with have this expectation.

Gen Z are heavily influenced by social media. Their interests are captured by Tik-Tok, Instagram and perhaps X (Twitter) to some extent. They don’t spend much time on Facebook. Gen Z gets a lot of their information from these social media platforms, and these outlets shape their thinking. This is all well documented. LinkedIn, on the other hand, is an interesting phenomenon with the Gen Z crowd. LinkedIn isn’t lumped-in with other social media platforms, but the Gen Z I know all set up LinkedIn profiles while they were university/college students at the latest, with some setting up their profiles as soon as they graduated from high school. Gen Z currently makes up approximately 20% of LinkedIn’s users, and is the fastest growing demographic on LinkedIn. This is not surprising as it's the time in their lives where people are looking to enter the workforce. Any Gen Z who knows what they want in their career, sets up a LinkedIn profile. Whenever I see a Gen Z with a new LinkedIn profile come through my feed I’m impressed and connect with them. I want to encourage them to build their network of contacts as early as possible.

Both Gen Z and Gen X have the ability to discern fact from fiction when it comes to social media content. Both of these cohorts know that Bill Gates didn’t really put nano-probes in COVID-19 vaccines to spy on people. This was a well-circulated news story on some social media platforms, in particular Facebook, and those within the Boomer cohort and the Millennial cohort were known to spread this misinformation. Since Gen Z generally skip Facebook, they were spared such nonsense. The Zs and Xs also know that images and videos of people “living their best lives” on Tik-Tok, Instagram and Facebook are often staged, or leave out the troubling aspects of those depicted lives, that everyone in this world has to deal with. The behind the scenes issues never seem to make it to the reels posted on Instagram or Tik-Tok. Gen Z is well aware of this.

Gen Z are seen as practical and amenable, as long as the situations they are in are reasonable and authentic. They don’t expect the world to come to them, or to be easily given things, which is a common complaint of the Millennial cohort (those born between 1981 and 1996, and those currently between the ages of 29 and 44). The Gen Z I know all work hard and expect to earn their rewards, but they will cry foul when they are mistreated or misled. This makes them stronger than Boomers, who would tolerate personal injustices to some degree. This trait in Gen Z is similar to those of their Gen X parents, who also wouldn’t tolerate injustices, but are more tolerant than their Gen Z children. Gen Z will take action in face of personal mistreatment or societal injustices. Many protests recently against social injustices or unreasonable government actions ( ie - raids by ICE) in the United States are led by Gen Z organizers. This bodes well for society. Gen Z will cut through facades and take action.

Gen Z are a very diverse and inclusive group. Boomers and Gen X can be accused of, and would admit to being ignorant and unenlightened in their youth towards racial minorities and those of alternate sexual orientation, making inappropriate jokes or slurs towards these groups when they were younger. I have not seen any of this behaviour from Gen Z. I'm sure the cohort is not completely void of this inappropriate behaviour, but generally they accept these differences as being part of who people are. They have been exposed to these differences their entire life, and most of their parents raise them with more open-mindedness and acceptance of these differences. And while Gen Z’s Gen X parents may have been guilty of inappropriate behaviour towards these groups, by and large the Gen X did mature and become more enlightened, and that helped them shape the thinking of their Gen Z children to be more inclusive.

The Gen Z age group tends to be more open about mental health issues, discussing the topic openly, being there to support their friends who are struggling in this area, and going so far as to seek help from professionals. I am fortunate not to have to deal with these issues, but as a Gen X I am oriented to keeping my troubles to myself and don’t see myself seeking professional help to deal with things I’m struggling with. That approach may not be the best but it’s how I operate. Could I have been better if I talked things through? Perhaps, but I’d like to think I’ve done pretty well for myself so far. Having said that, I am starting to share a bit more with people I trust and I attribute this newfound openness to seeing how openness has helped the Gen Z I interact with regularly. In this regard, I’ve learned something from Gen Z and am putting it into practice in a small way. Talking about things helps; I’d encourage my fellow Gen Xers to try it.

We were all adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Gen Z cohort were in their formative years when the pandemic was at its peak. They were in high school or grade school when social interaction with friends was so important for their development, but were severely limited by the restrictions placed on society by the authorities. Or, similarly they were in University or College, where interactions with fellow students and instructors was also severely limited. If they were attending post-secondary school away from home, the students may have been forced to spend all day and night living and attending classes from one room, missing out on valuable social interactions. That would have been terrible and I can’t imagine having to go through that. My younger son went through this, but he and his housemates and friends were smart. They created a bubble of eight or nine people, half women and half men and they interacted with each other, both for school work and for socializing. It helped them keep their sanity and allowed them to further develop social skills at that formative age.

During COVID my older son had already begun his work career. He was accustomed to working full-time at the office pre-COVID, and used this opportunity to learn from his colleagues and managers, and build valuable relationships. He was not happy working from home when the COVID restrictions were put in place. He returned to the office full-time as soon as he was permitted to, even though his company only required part-time attendance in the office. He saw the value in being in the office on a regular basis, and he enjoyed the change of scenery and separation from his home space. Almost all his friends had the same attitude towards working at the office. This was refreshing, as they all understood the value of being present in the office. Whenever this topic comes up I always say a company cannot build a culture over video meeting tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. There is no substitute for in-person interactions, and I’m glad most of the Gen Z I know share this view.

In addition to valuing in-person interactions at the office, Gen Z wants transparency in their work roles, their responsibility and their path to success. Any form of gamesmanship in this regard won’t be tolerated for long. Older generations may have been willing to accept some bait n’ switch from a company if they otherwise liked the company and the work, but this generation of workers expect their employer to walk-the-walk, and do what they said they would do. They don’t value longevity with the same organization and are willing to move to an organization they trust. And, if they don’t believe the company’s work and environment will help them succeed, in terms of experience and compensation, they’ll move on, or stay put, as the case may be. They may be willing to do rote tasks to some extent, but they are looking for meaningful work, with a reasonable amount of autonomy. Again, older generations may have put up with micro-managing because they were reluctant to change jobs frequently, where Gen Z will have no hesitation moving on from a non-ideal work environment. A recent study reported that the average tenure for a Gen Z person is 1.8 years. The Gen Z I know have had a much longer tenure in their jobs, being 4-5 years. This is consistent with how long older generations stay in a given job.

I’ve recently read a lot about how Gen Z are having trouble find work. My informal survey of this group reveals that characterizing the entire cohort as having trouble finding work is a gross exaggeration. My sampling shows the older half of the cohort are all employed, and in fact some are happily employed and entertaining offers for other jobs. Where the notion of trouble finding work may be true within this broad age group, is with Gen Z who are new grads from university or college. I don’t believe this is a statement on the employability of Gen Z per se, but rather a commentary on the current climate of economic uncertainty caused by the current global trade war being waged by the current US administration. Businesses have been worried for some time about their revenue streams softening over 2025, and while that may not have happened yet, this inconsistent approach to applying tariffs has made it hard for businesses to plan for investments in people and infrastructure. It’s hard to hire new grads when you’re worried about double-digit inflation, and revenues dropping by 25-30%.

I am very encouraged by what I see from Gen Z. I see young people working hard, accepting that they have to earn the things they are given, such as promotions, job titles, pay raises and bonuses, but they are not willing to put up with being treated poorly. They have no hesitation in speaking up and moving on if perceived injustices aren’t rectified. In that regard they have more confidence than Boomers or Gen X, but they don’t feel entitled to anything. There’s lots to be excited about with Gen Z.

So if you do experience a Gen Z Stare, ask yourself if you said something silly or obvious, and don’t blame it that lank look on Covid - that is silly.