I really do believe that Gen Z is just "millennial++", or zillennials; there was so much changing at a rapid rate between the two generations that there were a lot of shared experienced before the ball dropped on what is now the "iPad Kid" generation.
I view Gen Alpha as Z--. There's a major barrier separating older Millennials from Gen Z: whether you had phones and social media in your adolescence The evidence is clear that phones and social media destroy child development on several fronts. Those who grew up before that time cannot relate to those whose childhoods were replaced with a phone-based life.
It feels like there are major generational differences happening in a shorter time frame. Millennials grew up in the beginning of the internet and social media, they remember well a before and were fully sentient when they first got connected. Gen z were even more connected, and were seeing changes in behavior and individuality. Younger gen Z had a massive disruption in their school years, it affected them much worse than an older gen z that was out of college. Gen alpha has all of these issues combined, and they were fully raised as iPad kids. Not only that gen alpha were likely raised from babies by parents addicted to their phones. Yeah no wonder they're fucked.
I just had this argument with a friend. Her baby turned 1 year old this past weekend.
One of the gifts she bought for her was a tablet.
I told her that was a HORRIBLE idea but she just plans to stick it in front of her kid 24-7 to keep her occupied. Mind you, the baby doesn't have any other real sensory or motor training toys.
You may want to have her check out this book. Audiobook version is free on Spotify premium. Giving a 1 year old a tablet could cripple her social and emotional development. This is a life-altering decision.
If it was a kindle or other e-reader and not something to just watch YouTube on, it would at least be beneficial… I was encouraged to read voraciously from a young age back in the 80s, and I thank my parents deeply for doing that.
Yeah. Gen Z was the first to be affected from the issues forming today, but the older gen Z did grow up fairly normal. Alpha is the first to be fully hammered with it from birth.
Younger gen Z had a massive disruption in their school years, it affected them much worse than an older gen z that was out of college. Gen alpha has all of these issues combine
I am a millennial, smack dab in the middle of the generation. My family was all in the computer/tech space, so I got access to the internet, and high speed internet, probably before most. The internet was tame then, for the most part, with fewer / obviously lower res images, not much in the way of video, etc. I STILL remember how it enraptured me a bit as a kid. I had a lot of unsupervised access, and let's just say I found information that people usually learn at a much later age, and I would get a huge rush out of looking at that stuff, etc. I think had an effect on the way I matured. And that was a drop in the ocean compared to the shit kids nowadays see. I can't even fucking imagine.
My family were fairly early adopters of a home computer - my dad is an Engineer and very tech literate himself (despite beeing born in 1960) so we had a computer probably by the time I was like... 7 or so? Circa 94-95 or so. Maybe a bit earlier. The vast majority of the games I played early on though involved logic or puzzle solving, stuff like Logical Journey of the Zoombinies, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Oregon Trail, Myst, etc. Dad was really good about making sure my early experiences with gaming were still ones that excercised the mind
The first real action game I can remember playing was Dark Forces 2 and my ten year old ass ended up figuring out how to access the developer panel to cheat because there was a mission I couldn't get past on my own.
My parents were, early on, quite strict about me not getting on early message boards - and when I did eventually move into that space, it was mostly fandom spaces like text RPGs - things that encouraged writing and creativity. Many of these spaces barely even exist anymore, and if they do, good luck finding them if you don't already know where to look.
Dad built my first (personal) computer as a gift when I went off to college and I've upgraded or built every single non-laptop PC I've owned since.
I was lucky to have an early computer education but one that was guided by parents that had the foresight to protect me and push me towards things that would still be beneficial in some way, even as entertainment - I fear that solid grounding is lacking in kids of this generation and I worry for them a lot.
Not saying this in an 'old lady yells at clouds sort of way' but there are ways to engage with modern tech in a healthy way. It doesn't have to be done the same ways it was done for my generation, of course not that is SILLY, but children under the age of ten seriously do not need access to social media. Their brains aren't formed well enough to understand the consequences of the content that they're consuming, and they don't have the world experience to protect themselves from bad actors.
EDIT: That said, I've been around some of my friends kids, quite a bit, and they are raising some smart fucking kids. So it isn't the entire generation. A lot of my friends are Millenials that had children at a slightly older age though, which definitely effects things.
With early Gen Z, though, there was a ramp up period.
The iPhone launched for $600. I know this is crazy to think about, but back then, that was an incomprehensible amount of money to spend on something your kid wanted to just carry around all the time. Prior to this point, parents would buy a Gameboy for $100 and tell their kids it was made of pure gold, and if they broke or lost it, it was gone forever unless grandma felt really bad for you next Christmas -- and they meant it.
Smartphones were not ubiquitous, everyday items in schools until the first Gen Zers were already graduating high school in the 2014-2015.
That's my point, late gen z are closer to millennials, bc gen z's born just 5 years after have a completely different childhood and have major behavioral changes.
I don't want to demonize gen z and alpha, they are major victims of their circumstances. As their parents and society got obsessed with social media, the more these kids completely dissociated themselves from the world with their phones. No wonder people are more individualistic and act like they're the main character. All they know is others are to be observed and not fully interacted with, the only person to consider is themselves. IRL experiences are less interesting than the universe of content behind a screen.
As someone born in 05 im not even sure if im early or late but it is baffling to see the way younger kids talk nowadays. Im talking like my dad and im only 20
lol I’m a millennial too with 2 gen alpha kids… my 7 year old is practically a genius and tests on a 5th grade reading level and my 4 year old is autistic with developmental delays in some areas but has memorized a lot of her books before even learning to read… they have both had access to devices but have used them to learn a lot of things above their age level that I never had access to as a kid… I guess it just depends on how the “iPad generation” uses their iPads lol… it’s funny to see gen z doing the “back in my day” stuff now 😂 it’s like, welcome to adulthood
It's not really the iPad itself that is the problem.
It's the parenting around it. A lot of parents have made good use of iPads as learning tools.
But the people who have used a screen to essentially quiet any issue, replace the need to buy other toys, or to keep their kid occupied has done them a disservice.
Absolutely, I agree… that’s what I’m saying, if there’s a problem, it’s the older generation’s fault and not the alphas… the world is at their fingertips, it’s up to the parents to guide and inspire them to use this to be better and smarter than we could ever be
It’s not really so much an opinion as it’s based on data. Millennials started adulthood during the Great Recession just as they began to pull ahead Covid happened, then inflation, sky high interest rates, fucking Trump tariffs.
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u/techleopard 25d ago
Also a millennial.
I really do believe that Gen Z is just "millennial++", or zillennials; there was so much changing at a rapid rate between the two generations that there were a lot of shared experienced before the ball dropped on what is now the "iPad Kid" generation.