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Gen Z Isn't Socially Awkward, You're Just Annoying · The imuRgency Room

• 0:00
  Hilarious watching all of the like older generations or even
• 0:03
  anyone in general talking about the Gen.
• 0:05
  Z stare specifically in customer service environment saying we
• 0:07
  don't really know how to talk to people, we can't communicate
• 0:09
  and. No.
• 0:11
  We can communicate quite well actually.
• 0:13
  You're just stupid. Yeah, uh huh.
• 0:19
  You can take whichever. Oh, Jessie, just the Jens
• 0:22
  Easter. They don't know how to talk to
• 0:23
  people. Fair, a lot of Jessie don't know
• 0:25
  how to talk to people, but a lot of older generations talk too
• 0:27
  much, too rudely and too proudly while being too stupid.
• 0:39
  Insane. Gen.
• 0:42
  Z finally has their thing. Well, I mean, allegedly.
• 0:46
  And it's been a long time coming.
• 0:47
  We've been waiting for this for a minute.
• 0:48
  Like we've had the boomer confusion, the boomer anger, the
• 0:51
  Gen. X rise and Gen.
• 0:53
  X grease, the millennial cringe and the millennial pause.
• 0:56
  And now, my friends, it is Gen. Z's turn.
• 0:59
  And today we're talking about the drumroll.
• 1:01
  Please, the Gen. Z stare.
• 1:08
  Hey guys, it's up to emergency and welcome.
• 1:10
  Welcome back to my channel. Today we are talking about the
• 1:13
  Gen. Z stare.
• 1:15
  I just seen somebody coined the term Gen.
• 1:16
  Z stare and I'm so glad somebody gave it a term because the way
• 1:20
  some people in our generation act it's like we cracked the old
• 1:23
  generations talking about the lead paint stare but a lot of
• 1:26
  y'all have that same exact vibe. And if this is your first time
• 1:28
  hearing about the Gen. Z stare, then I truly applaud
• 1:31
  you for staying off of TikTok because it has been the source
• 1:35
  of discourse for the past two weeks.
• 1:36
  But if you're unfamiliar, people across social media have been
• 1:38
  talking about this Gen. Z phenomena, specifically
• 1:41
  dissecting the way that Gen. Z or young people socially
• 1:44
  interact in public and especially in service
• 1:47
  interactions. And the gag of this whole
• 1:48
  discourse is that a lot of people in Gen.
• 1:50
  Z weren't even aware that this was necessarily even a thing.
• 1:53
  I mean, you can even see the results here in this poll that I
• 1:56
  had on my channel. And, you know, we got a good
• 1:57
  Gen. Z audience here.
• 1:58
  OK. And here's the thing.
• 1:59
  I feel like there are a couple of things going on in this
• 2:01
  discourse right now that are making a little bit more
• 2:03
  complicated than it needs to be because there's been a lot of
• 2:06
  back and forth online as to what exactly the Gen.
• 2:08
  Z stare means. What are people talking about
• 2:10
  when they say that Gen. Z has a problem with staring or
• 2:12
  just like not really keeping up socially?
• 2:14
  And where specifically is this happening?
• 2:16
  Because I've been watching this conversation evolve over the
• 2:18
  past couple of weeks and it really seems that like what we
• 2:21
  as Gen. Z are taking this conversation
• 2:23
  to mean is different from what older generations are claiming
• 2:25
  the Gen. Z stare is.
• 2:26
  When in reality, I feel like both are kind of getting at the
• 2:29
  same underlying issue. So in this video, we're going to
• 2:31
  be talking about the Gen. Z stare, whether it has any
• 2:34
  validity, whether or not it's an actual thing, and getting to the
• 2:37
  bottom of whether Gen. Z is actually socially awkward,
• 2:40
  or if the rest of the world is just that annoying.
• 2:44
  So I guess to start this conversation off, let's actually
• 2:46
  start by defining and figuring out what the Gen.
• 2:49
  Z stare or the Gen. Z gaze actually is.
• 2:51
  Wait, hold on. Not Gen.
• 2:52
  Z gaze. Mandatory cutscene aside,
• 3:00
  finding exactly what the Gen. Z stair is has been pretty much
• 3:03
  the biggest topic of debate here, with older generations
• 3:06
  claiming it as being the blank middle distance stair into the
• 3:08
  void often employed by Gen. Z folk, with it often being used
• 3:11
  in settings where you're being asked a question or just when
• 3:13
  you're expected to exchange pleasantry.
• 3:15
  So like think you're sitting on a bus or like a train station
• 3:17
  and someone comes up and someone sitting next to you was like oh
• 3:19
  hey how are you doing? And the reply is or older Jens
• 3:25
  have been defining it as a young person staring into nowhere as
• 3:28
  you attempt to communicate with them.
• 3:30
  Essentially alluding to the fact that Gen.
• 3:32
  Z is kind of awkward and doesn't really have the social skills to
• 3:35
  hold the conversation to have small talk or really operate in
• 3:38
  a society socially. Everyone's been explaining the
• 3:40
  Gen. Z stare wrong and I wanted to do
• 3:42
  it because my Co worker did it to me literally an hour ago and
• 3:45
  this is actually what it is. Hey, this is so and so I wanted
• 3:49
  you guys to exchange numbers because we just need to be in
• 3:53
  contact about certain things. Can you exchange numbers?
• 4:01
  Is that OK? Like do you want to do that?
• 4:05
  Or you can just give her my number, right?
• 4:09
  Yes, actually, yeah, I could do that.
• 4:11
  I'll just, I just want to make sure it was OK.
• 4:12
  Like I had your permission. Yeah, that's fine.
• 4:15
  Just you can just give her my number because you haven't
• 4:17
  already. And the issue here is really
• 4:19
  twofold because this conversation just started off as
• 4:22
  being really disjointed. Like we're all arguing about
• 4:23
  different things here. Like on one hand, you have a
• 4:25
  group of people, that group of people being like millennials
• 4:27
  and older, talking about how Gen.
• 4:28
  Z is incredibly socially awkward, stunted, and doesn't
• 4:31
  know how to participate or engage in regular conversations
• 4:34
  as well as small talk. And usually extends or cites
• 4:36
  this as being commonplace either at work or out in public.
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  Then you have many of us in Gen. Z that have heard this
• 4:41
  conversation and taken it as those instances in customer
• 4:44
  service where you have these people, usually older people
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  like the millennials, plus either asking self-explanatory
• 4:49
  questions, making ridiculous comments or banter.
• 4:51
  We're treating the checkout card reader like it's a 40 color
• 4:53
  Rubik's Cube. And that's also very valid.
• 4:55
  And we're going to talk about both of these things.
• 4:56
  But The thing is, and mind you, I'm always going to write for us
• 4:59
  as Gen. Z.
• 5:00
  But I feel like in terms of this conversation, we're starting to
• 5:03
  miss the point just a little bit because unfortunately, I do
• 5:05
  think that there are points to be made here and we need to dive
• 5:07
  into each of these arguments to understand, for one, where
• 5:09
  they're coming from and two, whether or not these are valid
• 5:12
  at all. OK, let's start this off by
• 5:13
  talking about what the older generations are talking about
• 5:16
  when it comes to things like social anxiety and social skills
• 5:19
  in Gen. Z.
• 5:20
  And one thing that they're studying is the phenomenon of
• 5:21
  young people not knowing how to start or initiate conversations.
• 5:24
  IE staring at servers when they ask you how your day's going or
• 5:27
  if they can get anything started for you.
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  When you get a phone call, waiting until the person who
• 5:30
  called you says something 1st and other just small talk
• 5:32
  interactions. Hi, welcome in.
• 5:35
  How is everyone tonight? Can I get you started with
• 5:41
  something to drink? Do you need a minute?
• 5:55
  I can give you a minute. Take your time.
• 5:57
  And I think this is coming down to a lot of the issues in our
• 5:59
  generation that we've spoken about quite a few times on this
• 6:02
  channel before, where I think like on the purely social aspect
• 6:05
  of just like giving pleasantries to people or just like
• 6:07
  responding to a hello should be something that we're more
• 6:10
  comfortable with doing. Like I feel like that should be
• 6:12
  a good baseline. We should take a little bit of
• 6:14
  accountability in the fact that like, yeah, social skills or at
• 6:17
  least socializing holistically in our generation looks a little
• 6:20
  bit different from other generations.
• 6:21
  And a lot of you might not like to hear this, but like a good
• 6:23
  portion of that can be attributed to the way in which
• 6:25
  the majority of us were socialized or not socialize
• 6:29
  growing up. And we're going to get into a
• 6:30
  little bit more of that later. And this isn't necessarily a
• 6:32
  slight to us saying that we're like some kind of social pariah.
• 6:35
  But I do think inherently there is a certain level of avoidance
• 6:38
  in these sets of specific social interactions.
• 6:40
  And I'm not saying generally because we're going to get into
• 6:42
  the Gen. Z side of the argument.
• 6:43
  I think a lot of the criticism and I think a lot of the things
• 6:47
  that we've been saying are like, problems are for sure problems.
• 6:50
  But I think just for saying hello or like things that kind
• 6:52
  of require you to respond socially does raise some
• 6:55
  eyebrows. And this is coming from someone
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  that gets social to anxiety bad. OK, in this sort of social
• 7:00
  behavior is something that we've seen a couple of times in like
• 7:02
  major online conversations because we do tend to navigate
• 7:05
  spaces, at least online from a place of distance and almost
• 7:08
  detachment. Like it goes back to that whole
• 7:09
  conversation. I was on social media a couple
• 7:11
  months back where people were talking about whether or not you
• 7:13
  were owed a hello from a cashier.
• 7:15
  You remember that conversation? There was this large sentiment
• 7:17
  of like not being entitled to someone's time or conversation,
• 7:21
  which in some cases is very true.
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  But also in that same breath, we do have to acknowledge that that
• 7:25
  is in contrast and in conflict with a lot of our pleas for
• 7:27
  connection and community in our day-to-day lives.
• 7:30
  And I think that piece is what's contributing to the disconnect
• 7:32
  in this conversation because I do think that it's okay to be
• 7:34
  socially anxious. Like I'm a bad with social
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  anxiety. Like what's that Wendy clip?
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  Shout out to y'all with social anxiety.
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  I gotta feel bad for y'all like. Shout out to everybody with
• 7:42
  social anxiety. I kind of feel sorry for you.
• 7:45
  Oh yeah, yeah. It's completely fine to be
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  socially anxious and it's understandable to be socially
• 7:50
  avoidant, but you can't be both of those things and not working
• 7:53
  on either and also expect connection and community from
• 7:56
  others. Because again, that kind of goes
• 7:57
  against that whole principle of like, not owing anyone anything.
• 8:00
  And unfortunately, there are actually numbers to support the
• 8:02
  fact that, like, our lack of socialization is kind of having
• 8:05
  an impact on the world around us.
• 8:06
  In an article from the New York Post talking about the Gen.
• 8:08
  Z gaze or the Gen. Z stare, they say that many
• 8:11
  rejected the notion that just because a job isn't great
• 8:14
  doesn't mean you shouldn't be greeting customers.
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  Well, someone from one of the older generations saying, I
• 8:18
  remember the first time a friend told me she didn't think
• 8:20
  customers were owed friendliness, just a mind
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  boggling mindset one person shared is just so insidious.
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  And I really don't think people realize they're infected with
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  it. Work is so much better for
• 8:28
  everyone when you're making an effort.
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  So we aren't just seeing this on the customer service level.
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  And I have some thoughts on the customer service aspect of this
• 8:34
  conversation, which we're going to get into when we talk about
• 8:36
  Gen. Z's approach, the Gen.
• 8:37
  Z stair debate or whatever. But this isn't just a thing
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  exclusive to customer service because there's also a study
• 8:42
  about Gen. Z in the office talking about
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  it's like small talk and how we've kind of killed small talk
• 8:47
  in the office. According to the study, the art
• 8:49
  of small talk is dying out because younger workers feel
• 8:51
  more comfortable communicating online.
• 8:52
  According to research, whole of 2000 employees found that 74%
• 8:56
  struggle to make light conversations with Co workers in
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  the kitchen and elevator with Gen.
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  Z leading with 40% of its employees feeling this way.
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  Millennials becoming in second with 33% and 24% of Gen.
• 9:05
  X. So while if you've seen any of
• 9:07
  my Gen. Z videos before, you know that
• 9:10
  I'm not a fan of the whole like Gen.
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  Z is ruining everything discourse, especially when it
• 9:15
  comes to the workplace, because I think a lot of it is kind of
• 9:17
  dramaticized and sensationalized and ultimately does end up
• 9:20
  harming Gen. Z more than it does like
• 9:22
  educating the populace. But I think an explanation for
• 9:25
  this that a lot of people for some reason just like don't
• 9:28
  really acknowledge as being valid is that for at least the
• 9:31
  workplace when it comes to things like being socially
• 9:33
  awkward or like lacking the social skills, is the whole
• 9:36
  concept of remote and hybrid work kind of being the norm for
• 9:40
  a lot of Gen. Z when they enter the workplace?
• 9:42
  A lot of people under play a lot of things about the pandemic,
• 9:44
  but one thing especially that they underplay is, is the impact
• 9:47
  that that had socially and developmentally for a whole
• 9:50
  generation of people that were just coming of age, whether that
• 9:52
  be in the workforce, whether that be as new adults, high
• 9:55
  schoolers, and for some of us, even middle schoolers, like we
• 9:57
  really spent our formative years in Zoom calls where oftentimes
• 10:00
  participation and responses were optional.
• 10:03
  So when you go through that during your developmental stages
• 10:05
  and that becomes more normal, of course, like when you grow up or
• 10:08
  go into different settings, that's going to impact how you
• 10:10
  show up in the world. So you can't necessarily put all
• 10:11
  the blame for people at least on the workspace for a work culture
• 10:14
  that they did not grow up in or have experience with.
• 10:16
  Now what I will say because I see a lot of my older generation
• 10:20
  viewers getting a little frustrated with me being like,
• 10:22
  oh, this isn't unique to y'all. Everyone's had to go through
• 10:25
  their own thing. I will say, I do think that we
• 10:27
  as Gen. Z need to put a little bit more
• 10:28
  effort and to correct that behavior because I think a lot
• 10:30
  of times in these conversations we address and we understand
• 10:33
  where it's coming from. You know, like most things, an
• 10:36
  explanation is not an excuse. And there isn't as much
• 10:38
  conversation around changing the narrative or changing the actual
• 10:41
  behaviors to cause people to paint these narratives.
• 10:43
  So I think what the knowledge is for us, which I will say is not
• 10:47
  fair and sucks. It sucks.
• 10:49
  It's not optimal at all, which is really unfortunate.
• 10:51
  But the challenge for us is going to have to be becoming
• 10:53
  more comfortable with being uncomfortable, especially in
• 10:56
  these social interactions. And before I get jumped from
• 10:58
  people with extreme, more extenuating cases where they're
• 11:01
  either at their wit's end or other contributing factors as to
• 11:04
  why social interactions are a little bit more awkward or a
• 11:07
  little bit more difficult for them.
• 11:08
  I don't mean this to be widely applicable to every single case,
• 11:11
  but for your average person it would not be a death inducing to
• 11:13
  venture outside of what is considered to be comfortable
• 11:15
  socially and trench through small talk.
• 11:17
  Now with that said, older gens, we do have to have a talk.
• 11:22
  We do have to have a talk. We do have to have a
• 11:24
  conversation. Because this conversation like I
• 11:26
  said is twofold. Y'all had us in the first half.
• 11:29
  The second-half we do have some things we need to talk about and
• 11:32
  address. Well yes Gen.
• 11:34
  Z does have a problem with staring and not responding to
• 11:37
  things when it comes to small talk and stuff like that.
• 11:40
  There are also a sect of people calling the Gen.
• 11:42
  Z stare just a lack general customer service and not
• 11:46
  responding to your every question and not making you feel
• 11:48
  like the customer is always right.
• 11:49
  And this doesn't even have to be in a customer setting.
• 11:51
  This can be just like an interpersonal conversation.
• 11:53
  And this is for one not something that is unique to Gen.
• 11:55
  ZI just think for some reason when young people do it, it is
• 11:58
  taken as like the sensational thing.
• 12:00
  Because sometimes the things that y'all say and questions
• 12:05
  y'all ask simply deserve nothing more than a stare.
• 12:08
  Because what do you mean? Do you have no shame?
• 12:12
  And a quote from the New York Post?
• 12:13
  Naturally, many service workers who are guilty of the Gen.
• 12:16
  Z gaze defended themselves and reminded the Internet that their
• 12:19
  jobs suck. No disrespect, but if you have
• 12:21
  to deal with the insane amount of absolutely effing brain dead
• 12:24
  people you've met in your life for 8 hours a day, five days a
• 12:28
  week, you would do this. And people have been doing this
• 12:31
  since jobs as a concept were invented.
• 12:33
  Row one versus on X. But people really underestimate
• 12:35
  the types of questions or just comments that people make on a
• 12:38
  day-to-day basis that do not warrant anything but a stare.
• 12:41
  Because if you respond the way you want to respond to that
• 12:44
  question or comment, you were then in the wrong.
• 12:46
  So all you can do is like, there's so many story times
• 12:50
  online about some excruciatingly stupid interactions coming from
• 12:55
  customers just because they believe that the customer is
• 12:57
  always right. Like we see this all the time.
• 12:59
  And like the fact of the matter is for like that aspect of the
• 13:01
  conversation, like most people aren't being paid enough to deal
• 13:03
  with all of that on a day-to-day basis.
• 13:05
  Like, I know that's their job and I know that's what they're
• 13:07
  hired to do, but like it's not enough.
• 13:09
  They're not getting paid enough to deal with all of that.
• 13:11
  OK, Right. That's me handles.
• 13:13
  He walks in on the phone. He's like, yeah, I'll send it
• 13:15
  over to you. Yeah, no, I'll just send it over
• 13:17
  to you. Yeah, no, I'll send it over to
• 13:21
  you. I'm like, OK, whatever.
• 13:22
  It's pointless to even try to greet this person because
• 13:24
  they're not even going to notice that I'm there, right?
• 13:25
  He comes right up to the counter and he goes, any gum?
• 13:30
  You got any gum? Here I go.
• 13:32
  Gum. No, I don't think so.
• 13:34
  He goes no gum at a store. I go, no, we don't have gum.
• 13:38
  And he goes Tic Tac. I go, no, sorry, no gum, no Tic
• 13:45
  Tacs. He goes, well, I have a meeting.
• 13:48
  I have a meeting. Do you have gum?
• 13:50
  What? And then he goes over to the
• 13:52
  candy section, right? The infamous high Choo section.
• 13:55
  And he goes high Choo as if that's something.
• 14:02
  I go, yeah, high Choo. He goes as if to be like I
• 14:08
  caught you, you're a dummy at your job.
• 14:12
  I found gum and. Let me tell you something,
• 14:14
  people are always quick to call Gen.
• 14:16
  Z entitled. They're so quick to be like, oh,
• 14:18
  Gen. Z is so entitled to this and
• 14:20
  that, but we need to also have the conversation about how
• 14:23
  there's also a rising entitlement in older generations
• 14:26
  as well. Like everyone feels really
• 14:27
  entitled. And this goes mostly for Gen.
• 14:29
  X and Boomers. Like millennials sister, I love
• 14:31
  you. Don't don't get it twisted.
• 14:34
  I know you've been mentioned a couple times, but Gen.
• 14:36
  Z and millennials, we go together real bad.
• 14:38
  I think. Yeah, a lot of people in the
• 14:40
  older generations have a life where at some point they're able
• 14:43
  to afford a house, kids and an education all with one job.
• 14:46
  And it didn't even have to be super high paying now for most
• 14:49
  of us, and this isn't just a Gen.
• 14:50
  Z thing, I think that Gen. Z just feels it more because
• 14:52
  this is all we got and we're newer entering all this.
• 14:55
  We don't and can't aspire to those same things anymore.
• 14:57
  So yeah, people aren't going to be as invested in their job
• 15:00
  because they know the job is going to help them get by, but
• 15:02
  it's not going to help them get the life that they want because
• 15:04
  most people, single jobs don't pay for a living wage or for the
• 15:07
  lifestyle they need anymore. Hey, how's it going?
• 15:11
  I just wanted to get a decaf Vietnamese iced coffee with oat
• 15:14
  milk if that's all right. So we actually don't have any of
• 15:18
  the decaf coffee and I can also only do the Vietnamese with
• 15:23
  sweetened condensed milk. OK, I mean like I just I always
• 15:29
  like come in and order like the same thing.
• 15:31
  So like and they've done decaf for me before so I just like
• 15:35
  would really like AD coffee enemies iced coffee with oat
• 15:37
  milk. I just don't understand like I
• 15:39
  have ordered that before here. Right, so we.
• 15:42
  Just we've never had decaf. Coffee.
• 15:48
  But I have gotten it before multiple times so.
• 16:00
  My researcher wanted to add a little note in the video where
• 16:02
  she points out that she personally has worked in service
• 16:05
  and retail jobs throughout her life and she feels like she
• 16:07
  always turns into a customer service robot whenever, whenever
• 16:10
  she's on the clock to lock in like this meme is really her.
• 16:13
  I actually don't remember working once I clocked in.
• 16:15
  I will black out as the spirit of customer service possess my
• 16:18
  mortal body once again, please. But now that we've heard both
• 16:21
  sides, let's kind of talk about the nuances within them and kind
• 16:24
  of where they intersect. And the first way we're going to
• 16:26
  do this is talking about the compulsory social interactions
• 16:29
  that are required of a society. Like I think in life and in an
• 16:32
  optimal society, there are a lot of mandatory cutscenes that you
• 16:35
  got to get through, a lot of small talk, a lot of seemingly
• 16:38
  meaningless conversations you have to have.
• 16:40
  And those are important. They don't always feel like they
• 16:42
  are and they don't always feel great to have, but they are
• 16:44
  important to maintaining a society.
• 16:46
  And I think that the more we stray from that and the more we
• 16:48
  kind of demonize small talk. That's sort of been like a topic
• 16:50
  of conversation for like the past however many years.
• 16:53
  People making it a personality to hate small talk.
• 16:55
  Like, Oh my God, I hate small talk.
• 16:56
  I hate talking about nothing and not having substantive
• 16:58
  conversations as if those two are like mutually exclusive
• 17:01
  things. Like I think the whole thing of
• 17:03
  small talk is to sort of find that common ground where you can
• 17:05
  talk about the things that are deeper and it doesn't always
• 17:07
  have to be 1 or the other. And I think that when we start
• 17:09
  thinking more black and white that way and start distancing
• 17:12
  ourselves from having small talk, we're just having
• 17:13
  conversations all together. The more individualized and
• 17:15
  isolated our society gets because yes, we do owe people
• 17:19
  common decency. It is the truth that people in
• 17:21
  your day-to-day life are your fellow community members and a
• 17:23
  little, hey, how you're doing and or responding to that does
• 17:26
  go a long way. And this is sort of that
• 17:27
  accountability piece where I do think that Gen.
• 17:29
  Z needs to work on this generally.
• 17:31
  Like, of course, like Gen. Z isn't a monolith.
• 17:33
  Most generations are monoliths. But I think when it comes to
• 17:36
  these general feelings of lack of community, lack of
• 17:39
  connection, and this loneliness epidemic that we keep talking
• 17:41
  about, we have to, one, ask ourselves, how are our actions
• 17:44
  contributing to this? And to acknowledge the fact
• 17:46
  that, like, yeah, asking someone who's taking your order in line
• 17:48
  or someone you're just sitting next to or someone you're like,
• 17:50
  awkwardly in an elevator with how their day is or just saying
• 17:53
  hello won't kill you and may, in fact, actually just make both of
• 17:57
  y'all's lives better. Or like these little sweet
• 17:59
  social nothings are important to not only build a community but
• 18:02
  also just for developing more pro social behaviors.
• 18:05
  The COVID divide in Gen. Z has not been more obvious than
• 18:08
  with this Gen. Z stare conversation.
• 18:09
  One y'all, the lack of comprehension is jumping out so
• 18:13
  hard with the amount of people who are like, no, I'm staring at
• 18:16
  you because you're stupid. You asked me a dumb question
• 18:19
  while I was at my customer service shop.
• 18:20
  That's not what anybody's talking about.
• 18:22
  That's not. And if you had comprehension
• 18:23
  skills, you would be able to tell, right?
• 18:26
  But also the whole, well, I don't owe anybody a
• 18:30
  conversation. I don't owe you small talk.
• 18:34
  But also. I want to build community.
• 18:35
  Why can't I build community and simultaneously I'm scared to
• 18:40
  make a phone call because I have anxiety or I don't say hello
• 18:44
  when I pick up the phone. That's not my job.
• 18:48
  I don't owe you a. Greeting.
• 18:49
  And y'all know I love to add a little figure to my claims.
• 18:51
  Like there's actually some science supporting the fact that
• 18:54
  like small talk and like conversing with people even in
• 18:56
  these seemingly insignificant places does have a positive
• 18:59
  impact on your health. There was an experiment done
• 19:01
  years ago in the Journal of Experimental Psychology where
• 19:03
  Chicago Metro train commuters were instructed to either have
• 19:06
  conversations with people who sat next to them or to just sit
• 19:09
  in silence and enjoy their solitude.
• 19:10
  And another group was kind of instructed to just like do
• 19:12
  whatever came naturally to them. And the research, according to
• 19:14
  this cut article, of the three groups, those in the
• 19:16
  conversation condition reported the most positive train ride,
• 19:19
  and those in the solitude condition reported the most
• 19:21
  negative among those who talked. The longer the conversation, the
• 19:24
  better the ride. So while this doesn't show cut
• 19:25
  and dry, they're like, yeah, talking to people always makes
• 19:27
  your life 100% better. There have been some experiments
• 19:29
  done to support the notion that like, yeah, talking to people
• 19:32
  and engaging in conversation does make you feel better.
• 19:34
  And I think in a society where people are increasingly lonely
• 19:37
  and are increasingly lacking that form of connection in their
• 19:39
  day-to-day lives, that could mean the world.
• 19:40
  And kind of on that point and expanding on something that I
• 19:42
  said a little bit earlier in this video, when I come to like
• 19:44
  owing people things and the whole notion of like community
• 19:47
  and like loneliness and all that, I do think that it's
• 19:49
  really contradictory for people that feel like they owe people
• 19:52
  nothing. Like I really don't like that
• 19:53
  whole notion, that whole conversation talking point,
• 19:55
  like, we don't owe people this. We don't owe people that.
• 19:57
  We owe people nothing. Like I think that it bothers me
• 19:59
  because of the contradiction, like to feel like we owe each
• 20:01
  other nothing, but to also expect so much of others when it
• 20:04
  comes to things like community, accountability and grace.
• 20:07
  Like we see this all the time with the way the Internet
• 20:08
  culture has evolved to become more so punitive of people.
• 20:12
  Like if none of us truly owe anyone anything.
• 20:14
  Then we also can't expect people to owe us any grace when we do
• 20:16
  mess up or we are having a hard time.
• 20:17
  Nor can we expect any accountability from people we do
• 20:20
  or don't know. Because with the logic of us not
• 20:22
  owing each other anything, they don't owe us that either.
• 20:24
  And that extreme concept of detachment and not owing each
• 20:27
  other anything is just super individualistic and it's the
• 20:30
  antithesis of community. Like, you really can't have it
• 20:32
  both ways. And I'm not saying that it's OK
• 20:34
  to like, not have accountability and not give people grace and
• 20:36
  all that when it comes to like, not owing people things.
• 20:38
  I'm just saying that yeah, again, you can't have it both
• 20:40
  ways. And in my opinion, we should at
• 20:42
  least owe each other some level of decency, some level of
• 20:45
  kindness, because those are both so necessary for the community
• 20:47
  that we say that we are in for so much.
• 20:48
  I bet you expect other people to respect the fact that you don't
• 20:52
  owe them anything. Well, they don't owe you the
• 20:56
  respect of them not owing you anything because they don't owe
• 20:59
  you anything either. Yes, it is true that you are
• 21:01
  owed nothing, but it also means that you are owed nothing.
• 21:05
  So you don't get to be mad or annoyed by anything anyone ever
• 21:09
  does ever. Including talking about the Gen.
• 21:12
  Z stare. Because you don't get to have an
• 21:15
  expectation that people will not talk about the Gen.
• 21:17
  Z stare. And this also means you are not
• 21:19
  owed being welcome in society. So if you're not willing to do
• 21:23
  what society has, is deemed is the bare minimum to be a
• 21:27
  society, which in general is just like acknowledging and
• 21:30
  treating other human beings as human beings.
• 21:33
  And really quick, let's take a break from like the whole
• 21:34
  accountability piece for a second and talk about this need
• 21:38
  to identify generational quirks. Because when we talk about the
• 21:41
  Gen. Z stare, we talk about all the
• 21:43
  other generational quirks that have been going on for other
• 21:45
  generations. Like we have to talk about like,
• 21:47
  why do we do that? Like, why, why is that a thing?
• 21:49
  Like I said before, the millennial pause, the Gen.
• 21:51
  Z shape, the Gen. X entitlement and so on and so
• 21:53
  on. Like I feel like online we itch,
• 21:55
  we urge, we want to catapult ourselves into having these
• 21:58
  hallmark generational identifiers for each other that
• 22:01
  seem to explain or like point out behavior.
• 22:03
  And I'm just like, why? And like not to pull out like
• 22:06
  the woe is US car. But like for Gen.
• 22:07
  Z, it just feels like Gen. Z's quirks are always so harmful
• 22:10
  and also are just generally used against us in real life.
• 22:13
  Like I feel like for all the other generational quirks, like
• 22:15
  it's very haha, he he or like something that's like memed on.
• 22:18
  But like for Gen. Z's quirks, it's like actually
• 22:20
  taken seriously and used against us in like physical ways.
• 22:23
  Like millennials get called and told that they don't know how to
• 22:26
  start talking when they start a video on time.
• 22:28
  Gen. X gets called angry.
• 22:29
  OK, but Gen. Z gets called lazy and socially
• 22:32
  inept. Hello.
• 22:33
  Like I get calling stuff out for the funniest and gigs of it all,
• 22:36
  but like the difference here is like the whole conversation
• 22:38
  about punching up versus punching down.
• 22:40
  Like, you know, like the older you are, the more social capital
• 22:42
  and like general capital you have in the world.
• 22:44
  So it's not like we're calling Gen.
• 22:45
  X angry. Oops.
• 22:46
  Oh well y'all got your whole lives together.
• 22:48
  But like, and that doesn't really affect them in any
• 22:50
  substantial way because we don't really hold power in society yet
• 22:54
  the same way that the older generations do.
• 22:55
  But like when Gen. Z gets called lazy and like
• 22:58
  socially awkward and hard to work with and stuff like that,
• 23:00
  that physically impacts our actual job possibilities.
• 23:04
  And there's just like so much evidence of this happening in
• 23:06
  real life of people not wanting to hire Gen.
• 23:08
  Z and Gen. Z being the 1st to get fired
• 23:10
  when it comes to layoffs and stuff because they are hard to
• 23:13
  work with, whether or not the actual employees that they are
• 23:16
  employing or firing are hard to work with themselves or whether
• 23:19
  or not they're just Gen. Z.
• 23:20
  And they think like, oh, Gen. Z is hard to work with, so let's
• 23:22
  get rid of them. Again, all video talking about
• 23:24
  that, if you want to check that out, which is why I want to have
• 23:26
  this conversation, because I think like people really get
• 23:28
  these narratives and run with them and actually act upon them,
• 23:31
  which then makes the situation harder for us.
• 23:34
  And I know, I know a big counter argument to this whole thing is
• 23:36
  going to be the whole, well, who set the system up of it all,
• 23:39
  which real we kind of did do that.
• 23:42
  We kind of did start the whole generational trend, identify
• 23:44
  everything on social media and labeling and generational, and
• 23:48
  that's fine. Actually, now that I say it, I
• 23:49
  kind of feel like that one clip of Wendy Williams.
• 23:51
  I wouldn't ask you to respect our privacy, but please, I don't
• 23:54
  respect. People's privacy.
• 23:56
  That's why I do the hot topics, right?
• 23:58
  OK, to close off this video because I feel like we've been
• 24:00
  talking about the Gen. Z stair entirely too long to get
• 24:02
  in my soapbox a little bit and talk about the disillusionment
• 24:04
  within Gen. Z right now.
• 24:05
  So when it comes to like Gen. Z not wanting to interact and
• 24:08
  not wanting to do the whole thing, we do have to acknowledge
• 24:11
  there is something to be said about the rising resentment in
• 24:13
  Gen. Z.
• 24:14
  Like, no, the majority of us can't just buckle down with one
• 24:16
  job and expect all of our ends to me anymore due to our
• 24:19
  country's socioeconomic situation.
• 24:21
  Right now, we're at Jaden Smith. We aren't given the life that we
• 24:23
  were promised as kids as many generations aren't before.
• 24:26
  But you know, as time goes on, things just tend to get worse.
• 24:29
  And God forbid we're rightfully disillusioned with adulthood,
• 24:31
  OK? Because it feels like we won't
• 24:32
  be able to afford anything ever. Not even talk about the terrible
• 24:36
  job market that we're in that's been the worst in recent
• 24:38
  history. And the fact that so many people
• 24:39
  rely on multiple part time side gigs.
• 24:41
  We're just stuck in our vitally unhappy at their full time does
• 24:43
  because the job market is so bad.
• 24:44
  They're afraid to leave their job.
• 24:45
  Like it's a lose lose for young professionals right now.
• 24:47
  And that's kind of sad. Everything in perspective,
• 24:49
  $100,000 with no dependents in five of California's counties is
• 24:52
  still considered to be low income.
• 24:54
  So if that's telling you anything about where we are, and
• 24:56
  I know that this is a very specific and niche part of the
• 24:59
  country, that is saying something.
• 25:01
  And if Gen. Z is collectively working more
• 25:02
  jobs and potentially more hours and trying to keep all of that
• 25:05
  along with any semblance of a social life just to survive, I
• 25:08
  can't understand why a lot of young people aren't the happiest
• 25:10
  spot clocking in every day. And again, this isn't to excuse
• 25:13
  the lack of social behavior. It is to inform and explain it.
• 25:16
  So maybe there can be some empathy in both ways while we're
• 25:19
  working on that because everyone's burned out.
• 25:21
  With that said though, again, as a generation, if we want to beat
• 25:24
  the Gen. Z stair allegations despite it
• 25:25
  all, we should look to become more comfortable with small talk
• 25:27
  and engaging in these small pleasantries and just
• 25:29
  conversations. But like older generations, I
• 25:31
  love y'all, but let's also try not to make it weird.
• 25:34
  Because at the end of the day, we all want connection.
• 25:36
  We all want community, and I think we really do need to start
• 25:39
  being nicer to each other. Or don't, I don't care.