Every generation faces challenges unique to them. Generation Alpha is the generation born between 2010 and 2024, whose parents are mostly millennials or younger Gen X. Among other Generation Alpha characteristics, they’ve grown up with smartphones and tablets, and they probably know more about technology than we do.
The world they are navigating is far different from the one we grew up in, and that’s having some negative effects. If we are going to help these kids, we have to know more of the Generation Alpha characteristics and the struggles they’re dealing with. Here are 5 challenges we need to help Generation Alpha face.
1. Few Coping Skills
These kids know more about mental health than any other generation, and they easily diagnose themselves and others. However, they have few to no skills for coping with anxiety and depression, for overcoming obstacles and setbacks, and for their general unease.
Helping them: Give your kids freedom to explore and overcome challenges on their own. Don’t be so quick to offer solutions or solve problems for them. Part of learning how to cope is having things to cope with.
2. Subjective Truth
Generation Alpha seems to have fully embraced the philosophy that truth is subjective. More than anything, they seem to crave authenticity. So, when the leaders of our government, private institutions, and religious organizations disregard the truth or lack integrity, it makes sense that these kids become skeptical of anyone but themselves. But there’s a cost to believing in subjective truth. They live without the security of systems and have no point of reference to determine what is right and wrong. So they are mostly guided by their feelings. There’s nothing solid to build upon, no guiding principles, except their own point of view (“their truth”).
Helping them: Teach your kids that we cannot trust our own hearts. We’re not perfect, not one of us. Jeremiah 17:9–10 even says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” They need a solid source of truth. For me, God is the ultimate source of wisdom, truth, goodness, and life. He’s a sturdy and unchanging source. That’s who I point my kids to. What’s your source? To where will you point your kids?
3. Increasingly Complex World
This generation has more information about diverse cultures, beliefs, and sexuality. This is more conducive to pursuing understanding and empathy, but it also leaves them vulnerable to process overload and fear of saying “the wrong thing.” It’s a lot to navigate. This might be one of the reasons they desire to stay in school longer.
Helping them: Set healthy boundaries around the amount of information they take in. They probably don’t need more information. The less screen time my kids have, the more their behavior and overall countenance improves. I think it has everything to do with a break from processing all the information they’re fed. They need breaks. Build them in.
4. Isolation
Of all of the Generation Alpha characteristics, this might be the most damaging. Technology and COVID have lessened their face-to-face interactions, making them feel more isolated. Additionally, according to Springtide Research, “They tend to work individually rather than in groups, and exhibit leadership behaviors rather than being collaborative.” It makes sense, but it feeds isolation and the subjective truth philosophy.
Helping them: Generation Alpha needs face-to-face interaction. Encourage your kids to meet up in person and to put their phones away. If your kids are young, coordinate playdates with other parents. Set a tone for how important it is for them to live in the real world and build relationships there.
5. Negative Effects of Screens
Shortening attention spans, brain rot, addiction, information overload, comparison, bad influencers… The list could go on. Technology isn’t evil, but it does create new and complex problems to consider.
Helping them: Set boundaries around screen time. Keep the screens out of their rooms, and make them earn their limited time. If they have to do school work on computers or tablets, create public spaces in your house for that. More than anything, prepare them for what they’re inevitably going to see. Talk about sex, pornography, predators, online bullying, and everything in the first sentence of this point.
Sound off: What are some other Generation Alpha characteristics and challenges they’re facing?
Huddle up with your kids and ask, “In general, what are the hardest things your classmates are struggling with right now?”