Who the hell even writes articles like this? 🤣
Do people really think that people born between certain years invented…staring?
Seriously, you could change the dates on an article like this, make it about Gen X or Gen Y, and it would be the same thing. Or about boomers. Or fast forward a bit and it will be articles like this about Gen Alpha.
“The older people just don’t understand the ways of the younger people. It’s like this is a completely novel thing between these two generations.”
😒
Y’all missed out on the “Millenials killed the (insert here) industry, and are broke due to avocado toast” articles of yesteryear.
LOL, Gen X here. We saw a lot of that kind hand-wringing about how we were a “slacker generation” that was not taking up ad campaigns in expected ways and/or playing video games too much and not being career-minded enough, etc. and how we thought there was “no future” because of things like the Cold War and nuclear annihilation, kids of broken homes and latchkey kids, homes needing to have two incomes to get by, and the dystopian movies we grew up on.
Then they mostly skipped over us because Gen X is not as large of a group as Gen Y.
That’s why when I see articles like this about Gen Y/Z/A, I just lauuuuuugh. It’s all so very unimaginative, but the people writing these galaxy-brained things seemingly have no fucking idea how recycled it all is.
ikr TFA says “…Gen X might have been taught to be overly friendly and polite in customer service settings…” and I was like: wat? Maybe they TRIED, but our stereotypical response was always “…meh.”
LOL, right? Have any of these people even met Gen X or watched some of the media aimed at Gen X?
It’s not like we invented disaffected youth, but it’s like plenty of music and movies captured that and made it an aesthetic for us. I recommend anyone thinking otherwise watch something like Repo Man.
I’m sure plenty of boomers in their youth had some of the same fuck you attitudes. They were the people that said “don’t trust anyone over 30” and “hope I die before I get old”?
Does anyone really think they were super bubbly in their teens and twenties while carrying out McJobs for The Man?
Oh no, I was taught to be polite, or there would likely be violence. The threat of Dad’s punishment was always on the table.
Greetings, fellow child of working-class parents!
:)
And then there’s the look. If we were in public and I got out of line I’d get the warning look. I never needed another warning from my dad and was grateful to have a warning. My mom’s second warning was the subtle pinch. The odds were about 50/50 that dad would hear about it, if it got to the pinch. Not falling in line after the pinch, well that was just unfathomable. I guess in my mind I felt like I would not survive the resulting punishment for that transgression so it always ended there.
As long as the line wasn’t crossed, they were a blast to be around and were very engaged, especially dad. But being a latchkey kid meant a lot of unsupervised time where I could get into trouble.
Its obvious clickbait, do not share it. They get money from that.
Per one “expert” quoted in the article: “Gen Z employees come from a generation that is starkly genuine”. That should tell you all you need to now about the quality of this article.
I’d like to point that “expert” to watch something like The Graduate or read something like “Generation X” - or other novels from Coupland - where his characters agonize over things like McJobs. Ironically, I think Coupland is probably describing what is often called “The Jones Generation”.
The Graduate was before I was born, and Coupland’s work was not something I read until a few years out of college, but both managed to resonate with me.
Also, didn’t the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye complain a lot about others being fake and so on?
Forget 20th century media, there are Sumerian cuneiform tablets with parents complaining about their kids’ work ethics.
Yup, this. However, reading/watching something from the past 100 years does tend to bring it home in a more visceral way. People having a hard time connecting with the experiences of people that are still living (boomers, Silent generation) are going to really struggle connecting to ancient Sumerians.
Adam Conover has the perfect talk on the notion of “generations”…I honestly wish he’d expand on this talk and put together instances in a slide deck where he goes from Gen Z (or alpha) and these kinds of narratives all the way back to colonial times or whatever he has the energy for.
Starkly genuine in their desire to be influencers.
You think that stare is specific to gen Z?
Haha. Someone mentioned The Graduate in the comments on the article itself, too.
I’m sure there are lots of examples from earlier TV shows and movies…
Upvoting because the article itself is infuriating.
ikr in comments OP states that the article is the target of the infuriation, but it’s ambiguous, and I think most dowvoters are assuming the “stare” of the article is considered infuriating.
Apologies, but for some reason I understand it, even if from the first glance the article seems uncommon…
I am around 40 myself, but it feels like some younger people don’t want to think much at all… They just don’t care and their “stare” shows that you mean nothing, or do not consider your an individual at all but just an objectified obstacle.
It feels indeed like some people nowadays have “glass”, “voided”, or just “empty” eyes…
That isn’t something new to Gen Z. You’re just noticing it now because you’ve matured, but I promise you that your age cohort behaved the same 15 years ago.
Oh if we are talking about service workers, I’ve seen the bored vacant stare from people in a McJob since before I even entered the workforce. I noticed it as an observant child watching adolescents in such positions, and those kids were probably Generation Jones or maybe younger boomers.
