Over the millions of years of evolution, we humans have developed into a highly intelligent species. We’ve developed the ability to communicate, we’ve created social order, and established norms and protocols that facilitate a (mostly) harmonious coexistence. Take, for example, the fact that we all know how to stand in line to order a beverage.

 

But now, after millennia of humans lining up and waiting their turn, it seems all of a sudden there’s an entire generation that doesn’t know how to queue. They loiter in the vicinity of the line, they leave long gaps between them and the person in front, making the queue, if there even is one, ambiguous at best. Are they in the queue? Are they out of the queue? It’s all very unclear and to be honest, when all you want is your coffee, it’s wildly frustrating for us olds.

 

Now this is making a huge generalisation about a large group of people in society, but someone needs to say it. Sorry Generation Z, we love you, but it seems like you don't know how to queue properly. What’s going on?

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 Why can’t Gen Z queue properly
• 03:33 Queue research: Cultural, Social and Psychology studies
• 05:33 Cultural Differences in Queuing 
• 08:50 Gen Z Don’t Care About Queue Jumpers
• 10:11 Is Social Media to Blame?
• 13:06 The Legendary AFL Queue of 1965
• 16:16 Why Queue Fitness Has Dropped
• 20:42 The Art of Queue Jumping
• 24:18 Generational Differences and Social Norms
• 25:45 The Magic of the Seventh Son
• 30:17 What’s Next on The Wholesome Show

 

SOURCES:

• A global guide to queuing philosophies, from Wimbledon to São Paulo, Quartz
• Generation Z more likely to queue-jump and let others do the same, poll claims
• No, Argentina's president did not adopt a Jewish child to stop him turning into a werewolf by Uki Goni in The Guardian
• Queue Culture: The Waiting Line as a Social System, by Leon Mann in the American Journal of Sociology
• The Psychology of Queuing, in Psychology, by A Furnham, L Treglown, G & Horne, G.
• What’s Up Doc? Seventh Sons in Victorian and Edwardian Lancashire, by Simon Young in Folklore

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