Millennials are lazy, right boomer?
Inter-generational digs aside, we have a whole new generation to make fun of.
Meet Generation Alpha, which applies to kids born in 2010 — the year marking the launch of the iPad and Instagram — and later.
“The oldest of them are going to be turning 10 years old in 2020,” said Ashley Fell, the communications director for the Australian-based social research company, McCrindle. (The company’s founder, Mark McCrindle, coined the term Generation Alpha).
“Those tween years in between being a child and a teenager and we know they’re already starting to influence the purchasing decisions of their family and they’re a very environmentally-conscious generation,” added Fell. “A lot of people have said this generation is obviously very tech-saavy but they’re also very well positioned, we believe, to thrive in the future.”
However, members of this generation face their fair share of problems including missing the development of interpersonal skills because they spend so much time in front of screens.
“Managing their expectations is certainly going to be key,” said Fell. “Of course, with greater connectivity, … one of the biggest issues is bullying. It’s always been on parent’s radar, but particularly cyberbullying, and how parents keep their children safe online and watch for predators and keep safe content.
Fell defined Generation Alpha in five areas:
Digital: “With Generation Alpha, it will just be seamlessly integrated from the youngest age. Of course, all of these apps and technologies really impact them when it comes about in their formative years.’
Global: “They’re probably more likely to know what’s going on on the other side of the world than (with) their neighbours because the world is globally connected and they have access to all this information through digital technology.”
Mobile: “They will have opportunities to work and study globally so they’ll be changing jobs and changing careers more frequently. For Generation Z (the generation after Millennials), it’s predicted they will have 18 jobs across six careers in their lifetime and if we extrapolate that we imagine that will be the same if not more intense for Generation Alpha.”
Social: “Every generation when they’re in their formative teen years are influenced by their peers and that’s just been magnified and exacerbated by social media and connectivity they’ve had. So they’re very social and they’re very used to having peer reviews and looking to friends and technology and social media influences for thoughts and opinions and advice.”
Visual: “The number one search engine for Generation Alpha is no longer Google, it’s YouTube, because why read it when they can watch it?”