The Things We Should All Know About Generation Alpha

For years, the war between Millennials and Gen Z has been raging on. After all, the latter is rapidly entering their adult years and taking the workforce by storm, meaning there are more crossovers between the two generations than ever before. So what about the true youngsters of today?

Generations Alpha is the latest generation taking the world by storm, with the youngest being born in 2024. Still, they are the first generation to be entirely born in the 21st century and their effect on the world is already being felt in so many ways. Now, the things we should all know about Generation Alpha should help to set things straight.

Millennial no longer refers to the youngest generation

If you’re still yet to move past the 2010s, there’s a good chance you hear Millennial and assume someone is talking about the youngest generation. However, things have changed a lot, and Millennials largely talk about being born between 1981 and 1996, meaning they’re between 27 and 43 years old. Even the generation behind them, Gen Z, is rapidly catching up, as they are mostly born between 1997 and 2012, putting them between teenage years and their early to mid-20s. While Gen Z are the ones dominating most of our culture right now, there’s also a new generation on the scene: Generation Alpha.

Generation Alpha is rapidly approaching its teens

Most sources claim that Generation Alpha is born between 2010 and 2024, meaning some of them are already approaching their teenage years at up to 14 years old, while some could still be born throughout the rest of the year. While the generation is still too young to be taking over the entertainment and fashion industry, Gen Alpha is the first generation born entirely in this century - and to be raised in the era of online shopping and social media influencers. As if that wasn’t enough, social researcher Mark McCrindle - who actually labeled the generation - estimates they could grow to over 2 billion people, making Generation Alpha the largest generation history has ever seen.

Gen Alpha has rapidly earned the nickname Generation Glass

Millennials and Gen Z are no strangers to smartphones, computers, and social media. However, for a lot of people, these weren’t commonplace in their childhoods. That’s where things are wildly different for Generation Alpha. The youngest were born in 2010, which just so happened to be the year the first iPad hit the shelves. If you’ve found yourself calling someone an “iPad Baby,” there’s a good chance you mean the ones who were given tablets or phones instead of a pacifier - and you meant someone from Gen Alpha. That alone is why so many people now refer to the generation as Generation Glass.

Families will likely look different for Generation Alpha

As well as being raised around smart technology, it seems that families are set to look very different for members of Generation Alpha. For one, it’s more likely that people in this generation will be only children. There’s also the fact that Gen Alpha will be more used to having just one biological parent to raise them or having parents living in two different households and being raised by older parents. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s a good chance that most members of Gen Alpha will have no memory of what life or education was like before the world shut down in 2020.

Education and socializing is already different for Gen Alpha

The world really changed in 2020 and it’s something that’s still being felt all these years later. In 2023, NWEA published a report that states students in the US still haven’t reached the same levels of academic progress that they had before the world shut down, and it seems that could continue to change. The rise of AI means that education might become easier, but it also means plagiarism is far more accessible and common than ever. There are also yet to be signs of how the lack of socializing and social distancing will affect Gen Alpha as they age. There is speculation that using smart devices from such a young age could lead Generation Alpha to be more impatient than those before them, while others believe they will be more educated and resilient, thanks to everything they have been through already.

At this point, the things we should all know about Generation Alpha could do nothing more than remind you of your age. Still, with the changing society we live in, it’s interesting to see just how many changes come with each new generation.