Millennials gave birth to ‘Generation Alpha.’ Are these kids already doomed?
Zoomers fear them. Boomers want more of them. Millennials will keep making them for the rest of the year.
Born between roughly 2010 and the end of 2024, "Generation Alpha" is the demographic successor to Gen Z. Its oldest members are not quite ready for a quinceañera, while its youngest will be conceived in the coming weeks.
When the last of them arrive this December, they'll close the largest cohort of children ever to exist on Earth. There are already concerns that the kids aren't "alright." The overwhelming majority have yet to graduate elementary school, and 1 in 5 are still in diapers, yet they are widely being called "feral," "illiterate" and "doomed" on YouTube and TikTok — where alphas themselves make up a large and growing share of users.
Blame bad parenting by millennials or tech companies or both — but many of those responsible for setting the discourse online agree we should be worried for them.
"Everyone on the internet is really scared of Gen Alpha," said Gen Z influencer Rivata Dutta, aka Riv, whose content is popular with alphas on TikTok. "They're like, oh my God, Gen Alpha is so weird."
Despite decades of declining birth rates and years of hand-wringing over a pandemic baby bust, there are now more than 2 billion alpha children worldwide — more than a quarter of the population of the planet — and some 6 million in California alone.
And some aspects of their culture are sparking backlash.
Baby decor in "sad beige"? That's Gen Alpha.
Screen-obsessed iPad kids? Alphas again.
Beauty-store barbarian Sephora tweens stampeding through skin-care aisles and slathering their baby faces in retinol? Alphas, allegedly.
Read more: As teen suicide surges, school policies may be making things worse
In recent months, the alphas have emerged as TikTok's newest supervillain, a designation that has followed them into mainstream media. If zoomers are delicate snowflakes, alphas are the opposite — a horde of marauders chasing Drunk Elephant beauty products.
Topic: Well, my daughter is an Alpha so we shall see (Read 86 times)