I’ve never encountered this in real life, and the few Gen Z I do interact with seem normal to me.

Seems like more contrived generational drama. Can we just stop generalizing generations, please? As a millennial, I’m so sick of it.

My 70+ year old father does this too... When he does it means that your question is too stupid/annoying to answer lol

That image description :)

A member of Generation Z performing the stare

I teach Zs, but this doesn't seem like a thing. Granted, I share much of their disdain for how shitty 2025 is, so the "response to performative positivity" probably wouldn't apply. If anything, they seem to enjoy my dark humor while teaching more than the older folks in the department, lol.

I describe it as mild disdain for being asked to do emotional labor and refusal to comply.

Unconvinced this makes the grade for being notable.

When someone asks me a question that's not worth responding to or to do something not worth my time, I either give them that stare, sideeye or one raised eyebrow

I look at that picture and the guy is not even staring.

(Stares in GenX):

You didn't even have to live thru the 80s to know this has been around longer than any Gen Z has been alive, you just need to watch any 80s media to see an example.

The people that did it as teens in the 80s/90s are just freaking out theyre on the other end.

They had bad connotations when they did it, but they did it so much it became normalized. So when they get it, they assume they're being called stupid, when the kid just doesn't give a duck one way or the other.