The question that most high schoolers ask themselves whenever they see an elementary or middle school kid is ¨Why do they look so old?¨ From the way they carry themselves to the clothes they wear, the ideas that we hold in our heads of childhood have become something of the past, with the future looking and dressing exactly like us.
Instead of going to Claire’s to buy a fake makeup phone and a crappy eyeshadow pallet, the children of Gen Alpha beg their parents in Sephora for the newest trending makeup on TikTok. Little boys now spend their days inside, playing video games meant for people ages 13 and up and little girls sit on their couches watching TV-MA shows off of their parents’ account on Netflix.
These actions have led to terms describing certain Gen Alpha kids. Some have been used throughout our childhood and others have emerged over the past few years. Terms like ¨Sephora Kid¨ and ¨iPad Kid¨ have both been commonly used by Gen Z to describe different Gen Alpha stereotypes. A ¨Sephora Kid¨ buys skincare and makeup products from Sephora in a messy and disruptive way, making the testers unusable for other shoppers. An ¨iPad Kid” spends most of their time chronically online, settling into the stereotypes of scrolling through YouTube shorts and playing Roblox.
Both of these stereotypes are very fitting for some of Gen Alpha, who are all but unfazed by these labels that they have been given. But are these new and old cliches the only way childhood can be depicted for this new generation? Or is there something else that has caused kids these days to want to rush to grow up?
While the trend to be and act older thrives throughout Generation Alpha, it can be connected to many different things. I believe the main cause of this movement is mainstream social media and how easily kids are able to gain access to it.
Due to COVID, kids currently in middle school and younger were introduced to social media a lot earlier than Gen Z because of easier access through electronics. When COVID shut everything down, people became dependent on electronics to interact with others, including Gen Alpha. This dependency led to kids seeing all of these trends in clothing, makeup, and behavior happening and wanting to take part in them.
Being chronically online has led to a lack of imagination within Gen Alpha. For instance, all through our childhood most of us would either have some form of art, a sport, or some other hobby that would keep us entertained for hours on end each day. Nowadays if you tell a kid to go do something besides a screen, they will ask you ¨like what?¨ because they lack the ability to think of something to do that does not consist of there being a screen in front of them.
With all of these things in mind, the brainstorming for how things can be changed is somewhat limited. Although the main ideas can, for the most part, be linked to keeping kids offline, and the problem itself is not something that is going to go away anytime soon. As technology continues to grow and become even more widespread than it already is, trying to limit a generation that is already so dependent on it is nearly impossible.
Although I do not agree with the hurry to grow up, I do not believe that there is anything that can be done to stop it from continuing. The only thing that can be done is to not be judgemental of the kids. While it is them who are growing up too fast, it is not their fault, but society’s fault as a whole for the normalization of kids acting this way.
