Inside the Minds of the Generation Who Have Never Touched Grass

By Arden Bevilacqua ‘29 and Kyleigh Butler ‘29

Born between 2010 and 2024, Gen Alpha is the largest generation in history, and the least understood. 

Generation Alpha is the first generation to grow up completely immersed in the internet.  Many adults, and even Gen Z, call them a “confused generation.” Unlike most, Gen Alpha's earliest memories are iPads, smart watches, and generally online. 

Most experts agree that Gen Alpha's online habits have shaped them into the dysregulated gremlins they are today. Growing up with their eyes fused to screens has affected their habits, social skills, and daily routines. While technology has introduced many great advances, like the promoting problem-solving skills through games like “Steal the Brain Rot”, it has also brought many challenges. For example, children now suffer from having very short attention spans, with a record-breaking average of 0.2 seconds of engagement before swiping to the next video. They are constantly coming up with new terms that honestly just make no sense, like lowkirkenuinely, meltmaxing, and baby gronk. 

(Photo from Verizon)

An anonymous freshman New Roads student claims that to her, the title Gen Alpha means “everything.” Anonymous stated how she spends most of her days on apps like Roblox, YouTube, and Zepeto, and even called herself "addicted." Anonymous’s daily average of screen time on her iPad is 20 hours, and she enjoys every second of it. Anonymous obsessively makes Zepeto TikToks on her account “Zepeto Milky Bear.” To clarify, Zepeto is an app where you can create avatars and talk to strangers. Throughout this entire interview, Anonymous struggled to keep still and fell over multiple times.  

Gen Alpha has a new take on what is meant by a “routine.” For example, Anonymous shared that she goes home after school every day and “plays Roblox with my besties with our matching Labubu avatars.” Every generation struggles to understand the next, but Gen Alpha brings a whole new level of misunderstanding to their elders.

(Photo from Business Insider)

Critical thinking skills are deteriorating at an alarming rate, with 89% of Gen Alpha reporting that they do not know the definition of “deteriorating.” Another study shows that 99.9% of gen alpha dont know what the fourth planet in our solar system is. The most alarming study out of them all showed from the New York Times that 100% of Gen Alpha don't know what a primary color is. 

Although Anonymous is on the cusp of Generation Alpha, she has the mindset of the generation. Although it's scary, Gen Alpha is the future of the world, and their lifestyle will soon be the new normal.