New Main Characters?

“Enjoy every phase of your life because you will not be a kid forever,” is something I heard a lot growing up. I was eager to become an adult because I got bored of being the youngest. For a while, I was the youngest cousin on both sides of the family. I was jealous of my older cousins and wished I was closer in age to them. 

In school, I was used to being the youngest. When I learned there would be people younger than me attending school, I didn’t think much of it at first. But then around middle school (which was K-8), I realized, “Wow, there are people who are younger than me here!” I felt like all the people I looked up to were older than me. Now, some people were going to be looking up to me!

In middle school, I heard the phrase “Ok, boomer.” I thought it was a joke, an insult, it seems. The same thing with “Gen Z.” I knew I was in “Gen Z,” but what really was it? Then I learned about generations. I realized that there were a bunch of generations before Generation (“Gen”) Z, such as ” Millennials,” “Gen X,” and even “Baby Boomers.” 

People in Gen Z were born from 1995 to 2010, but others say Gen Z started in 1997 and ended in 2012. Either way, we no longer worry about Gen Z, since there is now Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha is a term coined by Mark McCrindle, the founder of McCrindle Research. He chose to use the Greek alphabet to start a new naming trend for generations since Gen Alpha is the first generation to fully be immersed in the world of technology and screens. Gen Alpha is going to have a large impact on this world because there will be approximately 2 billion Gen Alphas on this planet. 

There are two ends of the spectrum I notice with Gen Alpha. One end is where people pretend they are older than they are. For example, the Sephora Kids phenomenon. I have never been the most obsessed with makeup, so to me, it is insane how people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars on makeup products. Especially girls, they start wearing clothes meant for teens or even young adults, such as crop tops. I find that unsettling. I have seen GRWMs (get ready with me) or makeup vanities for kids who can’t even be in middle school yet. 

I think a reason why some children act older than they are is because they imitate what they see. That means looking at Gen Zs and Millenials and beyond with their skin routines. So, utilizing a complex skincare routine is a must for them. There are even some TikTok accounts where children are 10 years old and under post videos, run by their parents. The parents believe they are doing nothing wrong, but putting your child online this early for millions of people to see is a little concerning (in other words, child exploitation). 

I remember when I was 10 years old and younger, I would be playing with my Barbies and American Girl dolls and reading Dork Diaries books. When I had to get ready for school, I didn’t use makeup (except for the basics like washing my face and brushing my teeth). Even my clothes were much simpler. I would wear jeans all the time and a shirt. My favorite clothing brand back then was Justice!

On the other hand of the spectrum is the “brain rot” core. I am talking about slang and weird memes. You may have heard certain words before. These include (but are not limited to): “sigma,” “gyatt,” “skibidi toilet,” “rizz,” etc. For instance, these slang words would be used in TikTok videos while playing Roblox In Gen Z, Roblox was a game amongst one or two people I knew. But for Gen Alpha, so many more people play it. 

For instance, “skibidi toilet” is a meme referring to a man’s head poking out of a toilet and singing. These videos are available on YouTube shorts. Gen Z hates this meme and makes fun of Gen Alpha. Since Gen Alpha started either in 2010 or 2013, people born in the middle insist they haven’t been “infected” or that they are Gen Z. I think calling them names is too far, to be honest. Sure “skibidi toilet” is questionable, but if Millennials called us stupid for our quirks, how would we feel? 

Nonetheless, it is still a little mind-blowing that I, in college, can see people being born in the 2020s. I cannot believe how much older I have gotten as opposed to younger people! I do not know many Gen Alphas personally, but I know the oldest Gen Alphas are now teenagers! Time moves by so quickly, which cannot be slowed down even if we want it to. Obviously, out of the two spectrums I mentioned, most people are in the middle, or “normal.” 

But soon it will be Gen Alpha no more because next year is the start of a new generation: Generation Beta. Like Gen Alpha, Gen Beta will roughly span 15 years, so it ends around 2040. By then, I am positive technology would be even more advanced. What will Gen Beta kids do? Play with robots? What will they dress like? Would they make skincare more complex than it already is? What memes will they have? What else will be new? 

It is 2024 right now, so Gen Alpha has one more year to be the “new main characters.” After that, they will probably look at Gen Beta the same way as Gen Z members look at Gen Alpha. 

• change
• gen alpha
• Gen Z
• generations
• growing up
• people
• social media
• tiktok