Millennial Pause

Taylor Swift is on the screen, about to speak. A split-second later, she flows right into her script, a consummate professional.

There it was, though: that momentary pause.

Millennials (those born in the 80s or early- to mid-90s) have made an awful lot of social media content in recent years, but Generation Z (late 90s and beyond) have almost put them to shame.

This brief but telling pause from Taylor Swift captures the essence of what has been termed the "Millennial Pause." There’s usually a moment—maybe it’s a tenth of a second, maybe half a second—where there’s no sound at the start of a short-form video.

Contrast this with how Generation Z handles things. Born into a world where digital technology is not just prevalent but the norm, this momentary pause has been deemed unnecessary. Appropriately dubbed the "Gen Z Shake," this approach involves a “startled” beginning to the video, where the camera is just being set down to record.

What’s going on here?

Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https…