If you’ve spent any time on TikTok in recent weeks, you may have come across the “Gen Z stare”. A viral, blank, disengaged look often delivered deadpan to camera that’s both meme-worthy and, for brands, potentially alarming, writes Jochem Van der Veer, co-founder of TheyDo.

It’s easy to dismiss it as just another passing internet trend. But behind the humour is a serious signal. Younger consumers are telling us something is broken without saying a word.

The Rise of Silent Feedback

 For decades, brands have relied on explicit feedback to guide decisions, gathered through vehicles such as survey results, call transcripts, loyalty programmes, and reviews. These channels catch the moment when a customer feels strongly enough to write something down or act, but the Gen Z stare points to a growing blind spot in this approach.

Gen Z is the first generation to grow up entirely in a digital-first, always-on world, meaning they have different expectations for what an interaction should feel like. They’ve been raised on frictionless ecommerce, lightning-fast apps, and social media algorithms that anticipate their preferences before they even know themselves.

When those expectations aren’t met, many won’t log into a customer portal to submit a complaint. They won’t tick boxes in an after-purchase survey. Instead, they might just scroll away, close the app, or post a silent, knowing slip to TikTok that says everything without saying anything.

That silence is still feedback. The danger for brands is that most traditional CX systems aren’t built to detect it.

Decoding Non-Verbal Cues in the Customer Journey

 This is where journey context matters. The “Gen Z stare” is a visual representation of what journey management describes as non-verbal feedback loops: moments when customers disengage, hesitate, or opt out without explicit action.

Maybe they abandoned a cart because the checkout process felt clunky. Maybe a sign-up flow made them second-guess the value of sharing their data. Maybe a post-purchase support page felt unhelpful, leading them to disengage from the brand entirely.

Without the right tools to connect these dots, brands never see the moment happening; or at most only via the downstream effect in churn numbers or declining engagement metrics.

Connecting the Dots Across Every Touchpoint

Brands need to think about customer journeys holistically. Not as a series of isolated transactions, but as a continuous, connected experience that spans marketing, sales, onboarding, support, and community touchpoints.

By mapping journeys and layering behavioural data with metrics such as time on page, abandonment points, drop-off rates, and social listening signals, companies can spot patterns of disengagement as they happen. That’s when intervention is still possible, before the moment becomes a viral meme.

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Inside the Workplace

The same principle applies inside organisations. If a Gen Z employee seems withdrawn in meetings, slow to contribute ideas, or quietly disconnected from their work, that’s often a reflection of a broken journey too .

Younger employees are just as attuned to friction in their work environment as they are when they are consumers. Clunky collaboration tools, confusing workflows, or a lack of clarity around goals can all feed disengagement. The challenge for employers is that disengagement rarely comes with a formal complaint until it’s too late, manifesting instead as quiet quitting or rapid turnover.

Turning Silence into Actionable Insight

 Journey management isn’t about replacing surveys or sentiment tracking. It’s about enhancing them with real-time context, so that brands and employers can act before disengagement becomes irreversible.

That might mean redesigning an onboarding flow for customers when you realise a high percentage is dropping off at the same step. For employees, it might mean re-examining internal processes or tech stacks to reduce frustration and improve clarity.

The point is to connect the disparate data points, such as website analytics, CRM records, social listening, support logs, and HR systems, into a coherent picture of the journey. That’s when the “silent stares” become visible and actionable.

A Final Word

It’s tempting to see the Gen Z stare as a light-hearted moment in the endless churn of internet culture; however, it’s a reminder of how much customer and employee experience have shifted.

Today’s consumers and workers will vote with their attention, loyalty, and willingness to participate with a brand. The companies that thrive will be the ones who take these non-verbal cues seriously, treating disengagement not as a mystery, but as a solvable signal in the journey.

Because if Gen Z is staring down your brand you can be sure they’ve already started walking away.