From: The Washington Post
The ‘Gen Z Stare’ — And the Decline of Saying Things Out Loud
It’s become a familiar TikTok trope.
A millennial walks into a coffee shop and tries to order something. There are countless iterations, but the basic dynamic is the same: The cashier responds with a gawp, says as little as possible and points to a sign. Another question; another point. One more question. Point. Eye roll.
Like most good generational jokes, poking fun at the now-infamous “Gen Z stare” — a silent, blank expression — works because it gets at something real: We are, quite literally, talking less.
An analysis published in July in Perspectives on Psychological Science of more than 2,000 people found that Americans and people in several other countries are speaking roughly 300 fewer words a day, or about two to three minutes’ worth, with each passing year. The drop — a 28 percent decline from 2005 to 2019 — was especially pronounced among people younger than 25.
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