What We Know About Gen Alpha and How They Live

Chicago — Generation Alpha — those born between 2010 and 2025 — are an interesting mix of their Millennial and Gen Z counterparts. Like Millennials, they are loyal to brands and nostalgia. Like Gen Z, they’re earliest memories will include iPads, iPhones and other technological relics of the digital age. 

But the generation also has very distinctive traits, according to Business Insider.

Gen Alpha began using technology at a younger age than any other generation

According to Insider Intelligence, Gen Alpha is considered to be the most “digitally native” generation yet. More than half of them own iPads and they tend to have access to a lot of other devices. Because of that, they are used to focusing on multiple screens at once and are skilled in scanning for information. But this doesn’t come without its drawbacks. A study published by Ofcom found that an increasing number of children reported they struggled to focus on one-screen based activity at a time. 

That’s not the only thing that could spell trouble for the generation as they age. Having been born in the social-media era, many of them have had their developmental years shared on social media via videos, personal stories and photographs. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a New Jersey author and clinical psychologist, told Insider that could heighten their self-focus and could have a negative impact on their mental health.

"The idea that 'I have to be extraordinary or I'm worthless,' it's very, very dangerous," she said. 

Many Gen Alpha may struggle socially

The generation came of age during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and were forced to spend years of their childhood in a remote learning environment. Kennedy-Moore said that has led many children to being less able to deal with conflicts and "the normal bumps and bruises of interacting with other people" because they'd had less practice with it.

"They've had way too much time staring at themselves on Zoom and not having the opportunity to interact," she told Insider. 

The internet has changed the way the generation socializes

For many members of the generation, gaming has become a conduit for their social lives. A 2022 study by GWI noted that almost half of children between eight and 11 talked to their friends online while they played games. Nearly a quarter of the generation’s parents said their children had friends they’d met online who they had never met in person, a Morning Consult study reported. 

The generation faces an uncertain future but they are getting more guidance from their parents

Most parents in Morning Consult’s study said modern-day internet access and technology meant their children were better off than they were in almost every aspect. The only aspect they thought they were better off in was mental health but parents are proactively addressing those issues by sharing their own mental health experiences and being open with their children.

Noah Johnson (he/him/his) is a Chicago-based journalist. Follow him on X: @noahwritestoo.

Edited by NaTyshca Pickett