{"id":4390,"date":"2026-04-22T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/gen-z-petrified-of-handshakes\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T12:00:24","slug":"gen-z-petrified-of-handshakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/22\/gen-z-petrified-of-handshakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Gen Z petrified of handshakes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-04-22 12:00:21<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>Some Generation Z youngsters are scared to shake hands<BR><br \/>\nA new survey found 24 per cent of teenagers &#8211; born between 1997 and 2012 &#8211; would avoid the simple greeting altogether, while more than a third admit they struggle to even make eye contact during conversations.<BR><br \/>\nSocial anxiety appears to be widespread, with 75 per cent of young people saying they find face-to-face interaction difficult.<BR><br \/>\nMany are also dodging everyday situations.<BR><br \/>\nThe research found 28 per cent feel too anxious to answer the doorbell or pick up the phone to an unknown number, while 59 per cent actively avoid small talk.<BR><br \/>\nParents are noticing the shift too.<BR><br \/>\nNearly seven in 10 believe today\u2019s youngsters are less confident than previous generations, and 96 per cent think texting and emojis are replacing real-life communication.<BR><br \/>\nMany blame screen time, with 73 per cent saying too much time online is making teens uncomfortable in social settings.<BR><br \/>\nDr Robert Harrison, from ACS International Schools, warned confidence is becoming a major issue, and schools may need to step in to rebuild confidence.<BR><br \/>\nHe said: &#8220;This generation has not lost the ability to communicate. But they are in danger of losing the confidence that effective communication requires.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Schools that understand this, and act on it, will equip their students to thrive in the world.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Just as artificial intelligence makes human communication skills more valuable than ever, we are raising a generation that appears to avoid them.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nThe findings also suggest young people are worried about the impact.<BR><br \/>\nA huge 81 per cent fear their social anxiety could harm their future prospects, yet only 26 per cent say they feel completely comfortable speaking up when they disagree with someone.<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-04-22 12:00:21 Some Generation Z youngsters are scared to shake hands A new survey found 24 per cent of teenagers &#8211; born between 1997 and 2012 &#8211; would avoid the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4392,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4390\/revisions\/4392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}