Generation Alpha has been sabotaged from birth and it starts with the amount of millennial parents throwing electronics at their kids to avoid parenting. Generation Alpha kids born from 2010 until now, have been raised on iPads and smartphones, leaving no room for imagination. The generation of our future is consuming YouTube shorts of Skibidi Toilet instead of Bill Nye, and skin care routines instead of Minecraft tutorials. Gen Alpha isn’t just cringe, they are also illiterate.
According to the National Literacy Institute, approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level. Many teachers across America have taken a stand on social media platforms to talk about their current issues with these kids. Seventh and eighth graders are performing on a 1st-4th grade level. “I could ask them ‘Who was the main character of the story?’ of a four paragraph story we just read. Can’t tell you, they don’t know,” seventh grade teacher Mycah Angelou said in a TikTok about his class. He also said his students have asked him how to spell basic words such as “window,” “important” and “though.” Angelou is just one of the thousands of teachers spreading their concerns on the internet and I have been thoroughly invested in it.
When Generation Z was growing up, many of our parents told us to get out of the house or to take a break from TV, even if the content was educational. Many parents have spoken out about Disney’s characters being bossy and rude, but none of that compares to attitudes that have been created by social media. Social media constantly promotes trends and consumerism, especially with the uprise of haul culture. Consumerism is believing that the more goods you buy, the happier you will be. So when certain items become trendy such as the Stanley cup or the Rare Beauty liquid blush, consumers feel the need to buy these goods to be happy. The reason this negatively affects Generation Alpha the most is because they are children and don’t need most of the beauty items that are currently going viral such as Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe. Another key factor in Gen Alpha’s increasing interest in today’s trends is the lack of preteen media. Justice stores have closed, Claire’s and Wet Seal went bankrupt and Disney Channel isn’t releasing tween shows anymore. Instead of elementary schoolers being excited to turn into preteens, they skip straight to teenage interests. With all of those factors put together this leaves us with Gen Alpha pushing through adults to buy highly concentrated retinol.
This issue isn’t about being cringe or thinking Generation Alpha is embarrassing, it’s about our future presidents, doctors and firefighters. It’s about what these kids are learning, and not learning. These parents need to look up from their own devices and pay attention to their kids because as our generation knows, the internet isn’t child friendly.
