Older generations have been quick to criticise the so-called ‘gen Z stare’ – a blank, expressionless look often deployed in customer service settings. But according to a gen X writer, their own generation’s vacant expressions are far more deserving of scorn.
Writing in The Guardian, Emma Beddington argues that gen Z’s blankness is often misinterpreted as boredom or superiority, when in fact younger people have more pressing concerns about jobs, housing and the climate crisis. She suggests that older generations might instead examine their own ‘slack-mouthed look of bafflement’.
Beddington lists numerous reasons why gen X (aged 45 to 60) frequently wear a stunned expression, including hearing difficulties, sudden memories of public information films, existential spirals, or simply spotting a celebrity. She notes that one common trigger is when someone watches video on their phone without headphones, which she says warrants an exaggerated stare.
The article challenges the notion that gen Z are uniquely rude, pointing out that young people have been giving scornful looks to their elders for millennia. Beddington concludes that anyone, regardless of age, can succumb to a vacant stare – and it is rarely about the person on the receiving end.
