Blank Face, Busy Mind: Why Gen Z Isn’t Looking You in the Eye.

Niva S, Intern - Brain Science Advisory team, Peopleverse

At Peopleverse, we don’t just study human behavior we decode it using neuroscience and behavioral analytics. Every project we take on begins with a real problem from the workplace, not a textbook. We believe the best minds, when paired with the right methods, can bring clarity to the most puzzling human dynamics at work. Our young research intern Ms. Niva S, from the Neuroscience Department, Georgia Tech, USA, explores one of the edge problem statements that industry leaders are struggling with today. This blog is one such example, where science meets the silent expressions of a new workforce generation.

Industry managers often pride themselves on reading emotional cues—smiles, frowns, and other universal expressions that signal happiness or disapproval. Yet a new phenomenon has emerged among younger employees: the so-called “Gen Z stare,” a seemingly vacant or bored expression that leaves managers wondering, “What are they feeling?”

Emotional cues are those that can be universally acknowledged and understood by human beings regardless of cultural and language differences. A smile resembles happiness, while a frown conveys negativity. The ability to pick up on these cues and interpret them is known as emotional intelligence, which is a skill that is widely used in the workplace, especially in management roles. However, some managers are finding that their new employees, specifically those from younger generations such as GenZ, are unable to freely convey their emotions in the workplace, instead providing a somewhat vacant, and bored expression, which has been termed as the GenZ stare. So why do they do it? And more importantly, how can the work environment adapt to accommodate these changes in communication?

Generation Z, also known as GenZ are those born between 1997-2012, meaning they are also starting to join the workforce after living through a global pandemic. The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has led to worldwide shifts to online/remote learning and working. As a result, many students had to adjust their educational habits to stay focused and attentive through a screen for eight or more hours a day. Rather than socialize with friends and teachers, students were forced to spend their days alone with only their laptops to keep them company. This isolation might have led to more time spent on social media rather than engaging in human-to-human interaction.

Adolescence is a key developmental time for the brain. The affective system, which corresponds to the brain structures related to emotional regulation and processing such as the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus, undergoes extensive fine-tuning and growth during this time. One study conducted by Italian psychologists and neuroscientists found a strong positive correlation between problematic social media use and emotional dysregulation (Quaglieri et al., 2022). Another study looking at the grey matter volume of the amygdala, a key emotion-processing center of the brain, found that increased social media usage correlated with decreased volume in the bilateral side of the amygdala (He et al., 2017). So, what does all this mean?

Well, with GenZ teenagers spending a lot of their isolated time on social media, one can infer that their corresponding emotional regulation abilities may have dwindled. This could be an explanation for what managers in workplaces are now encountering when they hire this generation, only to receive blank looks and diminished emotional connection in return.

Rather than avoid hiring GenZ employees all-together, employers need to look beyond the generational differences and utilize tactics to bridge the gaps regarding emotional intelligence. One such tactic is to promote team-bonding and socialization outside of the typical office setting. Without the pressure of high performance or work, GenZ employees might feel more comfortable showcasing their emotional side—cracking a joke, laughing with co-workers, expressing discomfort which can eventually transfer to the workplace environment as well.

The key to understanding this new generation of workers is patience and open mindedness. They grew up with different expectations for emotional expression due to their usage of social media as a means of communication rather than face-to-face contact. By maintaining a healthy employee-employer relationship through meaningful efforts such as trying to appeal to a new generation’s needs, retention rates and overall employee satisfaction may increase as well. So, the next time you encounter a blank, “GenZ” stare, rather than jumping to conclusions, try to empathize with how they might be feeling, and you might just be rewarded with a smile.

Citations

Quaglieri, A., Biondi, S., Roma, P., Varchetta, M., Fraschetti, A., Burrai, J., Lausi, G., Martí Vilar, M., González-Sala, F., Di Domenico, A., Giannini, A. M., & Mari, E. (2022). From Emotional (Dys)Regulation to Internet Addiction: A Mediation Model of Problematic Social Media Use among Italian Young Adults. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(1), 188. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11010188 He Q, Turel O, Brevers D, Bechara A. Excess social media use in normal populations is associated with amygdala-striatal but not with prefrontal morphology. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2017 Nov 30;269:31-35. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 9. PMID: 28918269.