weird news passed along by my buddy Mike

Among the younger crowd, "menu anxiety" is apparently a thing.

Headline:

86% of Gen Z kids suffer from "menu anxiety," meaning they're too scared to order food at a restaurant. 1/3 can't even talk to the waiter when they order.

This is weird. 86% of Gen Z kids don't feel comfortable ordering food at a sit-down restaurant, and a third of them don't even want to talk to the waiter when it's time to order.

Seriously, what's going on here? Did Covid do this? Why is Gen Z so antisocial?

Researchers asked more than 2,000 people how relaxed they felt while eating out, hoping to gauge how enjoyable the experience is for everyone.

About 86% of Gen Z adults (aged 18 to 24 in this study) admitted they have suffered from "menu anxiety" when dining in restaurants — compared to 67% of all respondents.

Some of these young adults (34%) reported feeling so anxious, they wind up asking other people at the table to speak to waiters on their behalf.

[ ... ]

The frequent occurrence of this very specific fear appeared to be triggered by the increasingly exorbitant cost of a meal out, along with the respondent worrying about not being able to find something they like on the menu, or, after the fact, regretting what they ordered.

Some even took it to the extreme, with almost 40% of Gen Z customers saying they simply wouldn't go out for dinner — if they couldn't check the menu first.

As I mentioned to Mike during a Skype conservation Sunday night, the younger generation seems to be becoming more socially retarded. Even as an introvert, I don't seize up with anxiety at a restaurant; I'm perfectly capable of pleasant interactions with staff. Even here in group-first, hive-mind Korea, though, this problem is rearing its ugly head: more and more young Koreans have no idea how to interact with each other like normal people in face-to-face situations. It's sad to see.

I can't get a bead on this generation—Gen Z or whatever. I sometimes hear good things about how today's youth are actually skewing more conservative in their thinking, which makes me think there's some kind of collective return to common sense going on. Then this shit happens: fucking menu anxiety. And I'm left scratching my head and thinking this new crop of young people is composed of nothing but idiots. I guess I've reached A Certain Age.

ADDENDUM: PJW is on the case:

NB: half of the above PJW video is an ad. Sigh.