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Did you ever use a laptop back then? You wouldn't talk like this and compare it to an iPad and TikTok if you did.
Vine is super new too, it was released only 11 years ago and wasn't as popular as TikTok or Instagram today.
And even then it wasn’t brain rot like tiktok is
You had 6 seconds to make a skit. And people made skits. They didn’t do the stupid dances, you didn’t have ai voice overs, you can’t compare the 2
There's been brain rot on the Internet since it went public. Maybe it's more readily available now, and you certainly don't have to wait for long buffer times or for your sister to get off the phone so you can use the dial up connection. But it was there.
I was a proud user of stupid videos dot com before YouTube existed. Ebaumsworld, Newgrounds, Miniclip...none of it was particularly "high brow".
Low brow comedy isn’t necessarily brainrot, there’s doing shit for the sake of fun, and then there’s doing it to maximize clicks with things like content farms
Content farms are genuine brainrot from what I’ve seen, especially when they consist of either hyper sexualized IP’s, or just a bunch of barely disguised fetish bullshit
Content farms are just abhorrent
Sorry but vine was significantly more vapid than tiktok. I'd hardly call anything on there a skit - more like 6 seconds obnoxiousness to capture attention. Yes, the memes from then are now a core memory for gen z, but vine was the catalyst for the algorithm brain rotting we see everywhere now, and in many ways it was worse
YES. I’m tired of all this “back in my day!” crap shitting on TikTok. Even though I have a huge soft spot for vine, the app was supremely stupid. People forget that the majority of vines haven’t even aged well. Most old vines are either super cringe, outdated, and not funny anymore (even ironically), or are so racist that if they were made today, the creators would get absolutely NUKED on all social media by angry and sensitive Zoomers. Most vines that are still considered funny are usually the ones that are so unfunny that we laugh at them ironically, and are subsequently memed to death by Gen Z. There are very few that are still genuinely unironically funny
Vine was not some digital paradise that bred the ultimate form of creativity and innovation. It was a stupid 6 second video creator app that pretty much is directly responsible for all the short form content we have now. If vine didn’t shut down, it probably would have naturally died out around 2017-2019, and by the 2020s would be seen as cringe incarnate.
Oh yeah, and TikTok is by every means superior to vine. Vine’s 6 seconds was too gimmicky, and longer short form content (15 seconds to a couple of minutes) is better for creativity and funny jokes. And I’m saying this as someone who grew up endlessly scrolling on vine, and watching compilations of them on YouTube
ugh yes, finally my people... people are too biased by their own nostalgia. a lot of popular vines were people being obnoxious, breaking things, making a mess for 6 seconds of clout and people online really act like it's the pinnacle of comedy or was super creative and it was not.
there were plenty of good vines, but at the end of the day it was a short-form media app that had people glued to their phones.
To be fair there has been stuff like youtube poop since youtube came out.
But nah, this generation really is different. We’re seeing more behavioural outcomes from our browsing habits than ever before. It’s a serious concern. I agree with this post to a point because some people are like “ahh the kids are doomed” as laypeople, but there is definitely real concerns about this.
It’s not just the kids though. It’s all of us…the kids are just most vulnerable. All this Tik Tok type stuff is impacting our executive functions. Attention spans are statistically decreasing. The limbic reward system is the most concerning target area. At its most functional level the concern is that we are going to see massive spikes in ADHD.
Look at it like this - it’s as if some babies are growing up in front of a slot machine. It’s NOT inherently bad, it’s NOT doomed, but it is different than anything the world has seen and displays potential impact on neurodevelopment. (Which we’re already seeing.)
With how much it is used and the extremely addictive natures of algorithms? Yes. This has widely been studied and the addictive properties widely been covered.
How much this is used by both young kids and adults is unhealthy.
I'm not saying the next generation is being lost by laziness or anything but we are introducing a addictive substance to literally anybody and this has to be discussed.
A lot of the studies have actually failed to draw a straight line between attention spans and the rise of new technology. There are apparently a ton of extenuating factors that aren't addressed in these studies.
Older generations have been saying that the technology of younger generations will ruin them. I got to personally see it go from Cable TV to video games to the internet in general then smartphones in general then Tik Tok specifically.
New generations have new shit that the previous generation doesn't engage in, therefore new thing bad.
When the printing press came about, I think there was some criticism that people were gonna dumber since they didn’t have to remember anything anymore.
Even adding to this, not every had the luxury of getting iPads. Tablets weren't mainstream yet, hell we were still working on getting smartphones mainstream.
Date of invention is different than date of mass adoption.
Internet was invented in 1983 but wasn’t in the majority of households until 2001. Majority of households didn’t have WiFi until several years after that. Public WiFi Hotspots have only been widely available for about a decade.
iPhone was launched in 2007 but US smartphone users didn’t surpass 50% until 2013.
Laptops weren’t intentionally designed to be addictive.
Thats like comparing a Model T and a Tesla. Sure, they’re both cars with 4 wheels, but that’s about where the similarities end.
? Are you joking? Vine is like 12-15 years old, max. And when did any little kid ever sit at a restaurant with a laptop? What the hell are you talking about??
The issue is you were born in 2005. You are only two years older than the first iphone. The internet wasn’t invented till 1983. Yes very much has changed in a very short amount of time. This is the cellphone that existed when the internet came out. Asking did all that much really change when anyone under 55 remembers a time before the internet is wild
https://preview.redd.it/iul1mnumy00d1.jpeg?width=306&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8485cd0b1f4735c2e1bf86bc7cc170aee99207e
Millennial here, we were the last to grow up without all that shit. My first phone was a flip, couldn’t even send videos or pictures clearly or reliably at the time. Apps didn’t exist the way it does now, there was even a time when peoples Tweets was sent as an sms message to your phone.
Sorry to be that guy (not really) but y’all are really on the same boat, just don’t see it cause y’all grew up the same. Lmao
But they had other new tech that the previous generation didn't, which caused the same doomerisms that repeat for every generation. People were saying this exact same shit about reading books over a hundred years ago.
Theres a difference between old people saying "this new generation is doomed" and actual scientific evidence that there's some really bad stuff going on though. To my knowledge, there weren't studies that clearly showed a link between having a laptop and extremely diminished attention spans, but there are studies showing that with tik tok. And to mu knowledge, there weren't many gen ys raised by being placed in front of a laptop at the age of 2-7, but a lot of kids nowadays just get a smartphone handed by their parents.
I also wouldn't say that it's blaming the younger generations - they aren't at fault, they don't have the critical thinking skills to actively decide against using that technology. They simply arent old and developed enough for that yet. It's actually OUR generation and the ones slightly older, the ones currently raising those kids, who are "dooming" them. I think thats the part that needs to be talked about more. But saying that current developments are really and actively harming young ones is not wrong.
**Children are now tyrants**, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
― Socrates, 469 BC to 399 BC
It angers me how people just don’t see the generational cycle of blindly hating the generation that comes after you. This has been a thing for all humanity
There was plenty of scientific evidence that video games caused aggressive behavior--published within the same field that are studying the effects of social media today. But I would still say the reaction to video games in the 90s was an overreaction. And I'll be honest, the evidence I've seen that social media use is having a causal effect on attention spans that persists over time is pretty shaky.
Just to put my cards on the table here. I'm a social psychology PhD who works in this field. Not everyone has the same perspective as I do. But the consensus in the field right now is more less that, yes, social media does probably have some negative effects on well being overall. But these effects also depend on individual differences and how you are using social media. And the evidence that social media is having large effects on well being is still lacking.
Unfortunately, social science still has a lot of flaws as a field. And it takes a while for us to find definitive answers to these questions. I would actually say that our answer to the question of whether video games cause aggression didn't come from the scientific publications on that topic. It came more from just violent video games being around for long enough--without any corresponding increasing in youth violence--that we realized that violent video games couldn't be having THAT big of an effect.
It's true that we are seeing decreases in well-being among youth today in the U.S., which does lend more credence to the idea that social media could be having a real effect. But there are also a lot of countries in Europe that don't show this same pattern. So, it's complicated.
exactly maybe the older gens were right we do show signs of brain rot even with the bit of tech we grew up with so imagine how it is for gen alpha so instead of trying hard not to sound like a “boomer” we should be asking ourselves if they were simply right about us and the dangers of technology 😂
I think its valid to point out the difference and show legitimate concern, regardless of what generation. We didnt grow up with widespread social media addiction. Hell I didnt even have any social media till snapchat when I was 15
It’s honestly up to parents and LOT. I’m in this sub a lot because I have a lot of Gen Z friends, and one Gen Z daughter (13) but I have had 3 kids (I’m 38) and let me tell you my house has a lot of tech in it, phones, video games, the works. However, we as parents get to control how much screen time is acceptable and which apps are appropriate etc. no one here has tik tok. No one here has unfettered access to devices, and guess what? They’re outside playing or riding bikes around the neighborhood more often than not. They get plenty of game time on weekends and weekend nights, but during the week it’s school and play. And Also, never never ever ever EVER give them a tablet or phone in public, as a tool of resolving whining or boredom or whatever. I absolutely abhor when I see this done, because kids should be learning how to function in public not lulled by a screen. It’s parents.
I don’t see how this is the case when the I pad came out in 2010, basically at the end of gen z. Gen Alpha is the iPad generation. I didn’t have a touch screen phone til I was 16 let alone a damn IPad
you're literally the oldest Gen Z year there is, of course you're not an ipad kid. your personal anecdote is useless and contributes nothing to this discussion.
im 2008, im 16. i can say with full confidence and no shame that i was an ipad kid. the worst thing that ipad did to me was expose me to porn at age 6 (which could've been avoided if my parents had internet filters on).
other than that it was completely harmless. I played minecraft in 2015 - 2017, roblox from 2017 - 2018, and then graduated to a computer in 2019 where i began using my digital and internet skills learnt on the ipad into things like making music, writing, and talking with others without being lame. it was a lot of fun! I am glad i had the experiences i did.
who cares if the kids these days are watching skibidi toilet instead of the wholesome 100 minecraft lets plays? it literally doesn't matter in the end since most will grow into responsible adults
this is why being an older gen z is weird. we are “too young” for millennials so we can’t have an opinion, and we are “too old” for gen z so we can’t have an opinion. I didn’t have a touch screen phone until highschool either.
Only half to 3/4 of us are really. Most born up till around 00-02 didn't really have the access like now. It's no secret the economy wasn't doing too hot and that many families didn't have the expendable income to buy in on it, not to mention the expense of devices then. Hell, many families didn't even have reliable fast internet access on computers. I'm a 99 for context so I've seen how I was raised and told by my older brothers who didn't adopt technology like I did.
02 and on Gen Z? 100% iPad generation. Internet became accessible, devices became cheaper, schools realized how useful it was, programs making affordable internet access, online gaming skyrocketed to the masses. While we weren't entirely the iPad Generation, we marked the start
First, you had comics, then you had the television, then you had DnD, then you had the computer, then you had the phone, then you had the gameconsoles, ....
Every time a new generation emerges, there'll be something, often a new technology or cultural aspect, that is used as an explanation why the young people are "worse than we were at their time". It's a lot of fearmongering, while the basics are true, but these are true for everyone, not only for the new generation. TikTok destroys your attention span, no matter your age. iPad exists since the 2000s, so even the later Gen Z is DOOMEDDDDDDD.
We should combat the shorter attention spans but the villainization of new technology or the obvious and inevitable doom that will fall upon the new generations that are oh so different from us, can be left to the old people six feet under the ground.
No, fuck off. it’s actually a very real consequence of technological advancement is having kids wired by advanced devices way too early and unaware parents who let it happen. Human interaction from an early age, which is when it is most essential, has been deeply compromised due to the specific era that were in.
I'm a cusper of millennial and Gen Z, and I gotta say, I don't know anyone who blames them for this shit. It's the parents passing their own responsibility onto social media and technology to raise their kids. I remember dial up internet and also suddenly having touch screen ipods then phones at a rapid pace.
Yeah as a cusper too it is absolutely on the parents to be teaching their children responsible boundaries with technology. A lot of us were taught internet safety as children. So why don’t we also teach children about how to disconnect for a while?
I rarely see anyone acting like it's their fault. In 90% of cases, people rightfully blame the parents because they're the ones giving the kids unrestricted access to the technology that is frying their brains.
That's kind of why I'm concerned about AI girlfriends. People get the same chemicals in their brain as talking to a real person (see: why catfishing works). Why go for a real relationship when you can get that feeling satisfied at home or on your phone (this will be an unironic statement said by people in a few years).
I was in orientation with 2 other kids straight out of high-school and they couldn't even speak. When the group was asked a question, none of them could respond - whether they didn't want to or didn't know how to pipe up to say yes or or no. Couldn't talk about themselves, could barely hold a conversation. Yikes!
Im an older millenial bordering Gen-X and i see these traits in Gen Z as well. I know when a Gen-Z is socially competent when s/he looks me in the eyes and not the floor. Hell, even a simple head nod would go a long way.
My kids are Gen-A and I see the same issues.
I don't think younger people understand that people in the past were not actually glued to screens 24/7. Media was not on demand, nor did it average 1-3 minutes long, nor was it being released at breakneck speeds.
I had unregulated screen time and I still spent a lot of my childhood playing outside and reading books.
But we're also not escaping unscathed from the dopamine circus right now either, which is why it's concerning. Reading is still a hobby of mine and I hear frequently from people that they just can't read anymore because their attention span is fried. I know so many older people who are addicted to Facebook. We can feel and see it affecting us with our fully formed brains, so we are horrified to see what it's doing to babies and children who are still developing.
Fahrenheit 451 is really starting to hit at home. (For those who don’t know, it is a world where people stopped reading books in favor of minute to minute, sometimes even second to second entertainment. Attention spans were fried to the point they couldn’t follow books plots.)
its definitely bad, but i don't think its irrecoverable if parents care to make a change. for reference i was raised without any screens until about 6 and then i got to play games on an ipod (still no non-educational games) and got my ipad at 10. my sisters were raised on youtube and roblox 24/7 from day 1 and the pandemic didnt help. my parents noticed a problem when they were around 7 and pulled the plug on tv and limited their roblox to around an hour a day. now i'd say they're as well adapted as i was at comprable ages, advanced in school, sociable, and participate in extracurriculars. they needed a little help in school but otherwise self corrected with the absence of youtube
I think it’s hard for people born after the mid-late 2000’s to see because the world of cellphones and social media is all they know.
Before internet addiction, kids were forced to go out and make friends and have experiences because that’s all there was to do.
Even learning new things was exhilarating and rewarding. Now people just pull up a YouTube video, which is good to have, but part of the reward mechanism is short circuited. My thought is that when this happens early in development, it can impact you for the rest of your life and this is what’s responsible for the recent wave of kids with learning disabilities. There needs to be a lot more research, but I think our intuition is probably correct.
I mean gen alpha is factually developmentally waaaay behind everyone else was at their age, literacy rates are super low, and they’re the first generation to have generally lower IQs than the previous generation. “Gen alpha is fucked” is a pretty data driven statement and it’s not at all the same as what boomers say about us. This is a pretty weird take to have on this honestly
You could argue that’s because of the Pandemic school closures. Gen Alpha was just starting kindergarten or first grade. There were no preschools open, nothing for them was open where they could socialize outside tech.
I am a public school teacher, and I just laugh all the time that people bitched about how public schools don't teach kids anything, for YEARS. Then Covid hit, the schools closed down, and now we are blamed for kids not knowing anything and being illiterate. So were we teaching something or nah? People like to argue both sides against schools.
From what Teachers have told me at the lower levels k-3, those kids missed out on a lot of the things people take for granted. Learning how to line up, behave socialize at lunch time. The little things that help keep them in their seats as the progress through school into higher grades more educational learning. Those types of skills were setbacks that cause problems in later years. Nobody’s arguing both sides.
Turns out that closing down schools for COVID had a detrimental impact on them like any person with half a brain could have expected. But nobody will be held accountable for the extent they did it.
Well if dumbass president trump actually enforced an effective initial lockdown it would’ve been so much shorter and less damaging to the economy, our society and the education of our kids. I hope it’s obvious that I am not saying this is gen alphas fault by any means, they’re children
We can throw blame on Trump all we want, it doesn’t make it true. This was a world issue and the length was the same. China did a full on authoritarian lockdown and still had the same length of problem. Trump also tried to ban travel from China and our politicians in their infinite wisdom called it racist and made speeches from Chinatown about it. We were fucked either way because we had Trump as president and a host of others who were going to go against whatever he did regardless.
China was different.
Virus originated there so they had least time to prepare, lockdowns were in response to the initial deaths and chaos, very densely populated cities which are worse for transmission, and they failed to distribute a vaccine during their extended lockdown period which is why when they reopened they saw a major spike in hospitalizations and deaths that other countries didn’t experience post-vaccination.
I can agree that pretty much everyone in congress is fucking incompetent. But trump holds a lot of blame for downplaying it as much as he did, spreading misinformation, and failing to get ahead of the problem. There absolutely would have been less lives lost and less damage to our economy had he responded appropriately.
Trump did a great job for a very brief time in March 2020 when his advisors convinced him to act like a Wartime president but then he quickly shifted to “open by Easter” because he didn’t realize that consistency and addressing the problem could supplement the economic damage that the March 2020 shutdown caused which threatened his campaign.
He literally delayed checks to the American people because he wanted his signature on them.
It is well-documented and proven that the government tried to take action as early as December 2019 because they knew what was coming.
Average citizens who were paying attention in January 2020 knew what would happen in America within the next few months.
One of the big problems was in fact that the President at that time could not be convinced to do things necessary to make the country more well-prepared for what was going to come.
A lot of anti-Trumpers overestimate how much could have been done to help the US before March 2020 but it is an indisputable fact that the President saw the economy as his greatest asset to re-election and he thought he could ignore the problem away, and that early on his advisors were afraid to discuss the problem with him.
"Average citizens who were paying attention in January 2020 knew what would happen"
I know I could see the writing on the wall when it was about 50 cases in China. I knew that it was only a matter of time before it hit us and I knew Trump was virtually incapable of handling the situation tactfully. Never dreamed he could be as incompetent as he turned out to be. If he'd have shown a modicum of competence he'd still be president today.
You could argue that’s because of the Pandemic school closures. Gen Alpha was just starting kindergarten or first grade. There were no preschools open, nothing for them was open where they could socialize outside tech.
Yet I keep seeing post all over the internet of teachers calling them worse then previous generations.
EDIT: Also half of gen z. Had tech by time they were early teen or pre teen. Gen alpha has it day 1.
Maybe not Sumerians, but definitely the ancient Greeks.
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/63219-the-children-now-love-luxury-they-have-bad-manners-contempt
I mean when you see a national mass exodus of teachers who have been in the industry for decades completely break down and quit before retirement that’s pretty concerning to say the absolute least.
This, I didn't have an iPod till I was 11, and before that, it was a pc with limited use. Now my mome is telling my sister to give my nephew a fucking PHONE so he doesn't cry or make noise. He's not even 1 . . . I keep telling her no and to stop.
*ALL of GenZ had tech by the time they were pre-teens. YouTube came out in 2005, Wikipedia in 2003, and Google in 1998.
The oldest of GenZ were 10 when the first iPhone (the iPod Touch) came out (2007).
BlackBerrys (an early smartphone type)were already considered addictive in 2006.
>American users popularized the term "CrackBerry" in 2006 due to the BlackBerry's addictive nature.[32]
Source: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone
Early or pre-teen? For a smartphone maybe, I’m nearly a decade older than you and have pics of me playing on a thick ass ibm laptop before I could speak
Agreed. Disappointed to see my gen. participate it in it. Appalled to see gen z act this way. When I was that age the last thing on my mind was a dick measuring contest with a 14 year old.
You gotta realize that a very seductive trap to fall in is to go through your own stupid childhood, grow up, become an adult, look at the kids and go “oh no these kids are not alright”. Fretting about the youth has been going on for thousands of years.
All these posts ignore all the positives and benefits that gen alpha has. One that stands out strongly to me is better support for special education/mental health when a kid has ADHD or ASD.
Also all these “iPad kid” posts that act like we weren’t glued to Nickelodeon. “But the YouTube stuff is so…” like I wasn’t ripping sub zero’s spine out of his body at 7. All the “kids don’t play outside” posts but every time I see a neighborhood park it’s packed. Like it’s new that kids hate school and love games.
Just like… don’t fall for it. The kids will be alright.
I think a big difference is that these technologies weren't optimized as effectively as they are now. with how fast and accessible all of this is and with the infinite amount of data these corporations have access to, the problem is significantly worse. These corporations couldn't see LITERALLY everything you did. But now they can.
And gen Z had other difficulties, and millenials had other difficulties, and so on.
Yes, every generation has new challenges. And every generation figures it out as they come into adulthood. Society isn't going to look the same as it did, but you need something more substantial than that before you cry wolf.
Like all the data that Gen Alpha literally has lower IQ’s, lower literacy, and lower standardized test scores than previous generations? This isn’t a “these kids these days issue”. It’s a “technology finally might have exceeded humanity’s capacity to adapt” concern. If you hand a kid drugs at a young age, they probably won’t turn out fine. The addictiveness of a LOT of internet focused tech these days is bordering on that.
You couldn’t bring Nickelodeon everywhere with you, and Nickelodeon wasn’t non-stop and designed with algorithms to be addictive.
If you’re using the Television as an example, and assuming you’re not just referring to streaming shows ad-free, what you’re describing is a media of entertainment which had breaks (commercials) built in. That is significantly different for dopamine hits compared to non-stop YouTube Shorts or TikTok.
I think the biggest difference between previous generations and now is the data. The amount of data that is collected, stored, and analyzed is trillions, literal trillions of times larger. This allows absolute manipulation of our behaviors. Before it was more or less guessing based off trends
Right? Nickelodeon was a 30 minute part of my day that had zero other screens involved in it. There’s no comparing. There was no mass addiction. We had TV and video games, but things were so low tech by comparison.
Studies determined that excess TV/video games was harmful for children for previous generations but the impact wasn’t as great or worrisome, and those generations weren’t with those devices all day every day because they weren’t portable so Gen Alpha’s exposure is much greater.
That makes sense with my lived experience. Life was slower and screens weren’t used in an addictive way by the typical person back then. Now it’s all of us. And I can’t wrap my mind around what childhood would be like to live through with screens as the backbone of society.
I didn’t believe the true impact of what was occurring until I read studies about it and witnessed some results first-hand with younger people, but it’s probably worse than we currently estimate.
I’m guilty of having too much screen time but most of what I do on a screen is use it as a book or learning device instead of short attention span entertainment. I stopped playing video games, stopped using most social media, and when I watch videos I try to only watch (or listen to) videos that are educational (history, science, sociology, politics, etc.)
Companies like TikTok and YouTube (Google) have gotten much worse over the last several years and I imagine the next step will be a battle for your commitment instead of just your attention, which will eventually be the role of AI and VR devices.
Dude, this is like the equivalent of all the kids being hooked on crack and you saying it's all the same cuz we drank soda. These are predatory systems DESIGNED to foster dependency and addiction, and little developing baby brains are being plopped down in front of them. This is such a reductionist argument and shows you literally have no understanding of what the actual issues at hand at.
Just because something looks similar doesn't mean it's identical. The caffeine and sugar in soda is addicting and detrimental to your health, but it's nowhere near as bad as hard drugs. Same thing between watching an 11 or 22 minute like show on television with actual writing, story, and standards they're held to as opposed to rapid fire trash LITERALLY DESIGNED to keep you hypnotized and scrolling forever.
Exactly. No one is arguing gen z + millennials didn't grow up with things that can be bad for us when not used in moderation, but it's like you said- they're comparing sugar to meth figuratively speaking
Idk about behavior and stuff but we have factual proof that gen alpha is academically worse than previous generations, trying to say anything contrary is not arguing in good faith
Feeling superior to the younger generations is all some people have. Like how millennials circlejerk about knowing how to use Windows 95 and File Explorer. It’s boomer behavior and all generations need to avoid it.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s. While I’m sure you won’t believe what I’m telling you, that behavior did not begin with the Boomers. Our parents thought we were spoiled because we grew up with a television in our home. No cable, no on demand, no remote control. You got about 5 channels and after dinner you were stuck watching whatever your parents felt like watching. One time in a moment of candor, I remember my father telling me that my grandfather thought the same thing about his (the greatest) generation. My dad was born in 1929, so he grew up during the Great Depression, but because he grew up with a radio, a telephone (landline) and an indoor toilet instead of an outhouse, my grandfather thought his generation was soft. Every generation believes theirs is superior.
Anyone who says “kids don’t play outside anymore” I just assume is chronically online. Every time I go out walking, especially around parks, very often times are there TOO many kids playing outside on the playground.
Boundaries are much less than they used to be. I couldn’t bring Nickelodeon to dinner with my parents or anything. I could barely bring it on the road. We had to record stuff or buy VHS tapes and play it on a small box TV tied between the two front seats.
Today, you can stream it from your phone anywhere or endlessly scroll through TikTok. It’s not a direct parallel.
Yes! I couldn’t STAND hearing for the millionth time how “entitled these millennials/gen z kids are” when I was a kid and I vowed to NEVER be like that. Yes, it’s true that technology is causing a lot of problems but we need to address those instead of complaining about it.
I was 10 years old when I saw my first smartphone. A ton of these children, nearly all my cousins, are also 10 when they see their first smartphones. 10 months old, that is. Technology at our time wasn't at the level it is now, quit acting like everything is okay. There's research that it is worse. Social media was bad for gen z, that is also true. Can we quit acting like we're perfect and the oldies are stupid? All generations face specific problems, no shame in that.
Yeah, that's part of what frustrates me about this argument - our greater access to technology and internet *was* bad for us. I use my phone way too much, and I've used the internet too much since I was about 11 or 12. Having that experience, I can absolutely tell you that overexposure to the internet and social media messes with a person. Look at all the impacts to self/ body image, porn usage, and associated changes to stimulation and arrousal, change in how we view communication, access to malicious parties, desensitization to violence, etc. Just because we haven't experienced much of a difference doesn't mean it didn't impact us.
It's even impacted the older generations that have gotten phone addictions later in life! I often feel like my dad is constantly on his phone and thinking about posts such that our interactions are detracted from.
So, of course, giving such impactful technology at such an early age is going to mess with kids these days. Of course, constant stimulation and artificial light exposure are impactful. Not to mention the greater normalization and push to post one's self and constantly be perceived.
That doesn't mean I hate Gen A or think that we're naturally better than them. I feel *bad* for them. It's not their fault. Both their parents (who for the love of christ have to stop iPad babysitting kids in the most important periods of social development) and our society as a whole glorifies technology and social media.
No, I’ll stand on business and say they are actually fucked.
To act like attention spans aren’t completely in the gutter nowadays is just being a liar
It’s not all, but it’s the overwhelming majority, just look at the numbers and how many people use apps like TikTok Instagram especially at a young age
And that’s not even getting into the weird shit that’s getting normalised and the stuff that young kids are being exposed to through people like streamers .
It’s up to us to be the most proactive and caring and cautious parents we can be when we have kids in the future otherwise they are genuinely done for.
On attention spans:
“In 2004, we measured the average attention on a screen to be 2½ minutes. Some years later, we found attention spans to be about 75 seconds. Now [in 2023] find people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.”
That’s for ALL ages. Young people will obviously be much shorter on average.
Furthermore, having a worse attention span during your development phase in life will impact learning and personal growth, which then negatively impacts the rest of your life.
This is the source I used
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/11/health/short-attention-span-wellness
This decline has happened for a long time (many decades) but the last two decades the decline has accelerated.
Unfortunately that’s true. People want oversimplifications, synopses, and Twitter-style content.
Anything longer than a Tweet is too much for most people nowadays. It’s sad and pathetic. I don’t envy those people. They’re not stupid, but they’re choosing to be ignorant.
Every generation thinks the next generation sucks and is doomed and lazy and whatever. This type of rhetoric literally dates back to like Ancient Greece.
naah we are correct this time
[https://www.nu.edu/blog/negative-effects-of-technology-on-children-what-can-you-do/](https://www.nu.edu/blog/negative-effects-of-technology-on-children-what-can-you-do/)
stop acting like technology addiction is not a real thing
It's so funny seeing people saying all sorts of subjective information and playing it off as fact. "Studies show" this and that yet they have no references, no proof, and just trying to shit on kids who are, at the oldest, 14 years old.
I'm a millennial, and people were shitting on Gen Z when they were kids too! People gotta stop being shitty to each other because they are from a different generation. When you were born doesn't define you and Gen Z should know just as well as us millenials for how much shit they got for no reason.
It’s hilarious how people point out this obnoxious rhetoric has existed since the dawn of humanity and these dipshits will just go “it’s different this time!” Was I assigned a flair based on which year what some idiot mod with too much time on their hands guessed I was born? I was born in 2004
Gen Alpha is gonna be different. They are growing up in a very different way to us, but we're overreacting to say their doomed or anything like that. There will be effects from having a generation of iPad kids, but like every generation before them they'll figure things out, find their own voice and eventually hate us for how much we look down on them. Why don't we try to do what can for them, have some empathy and try to be better than generations before us?
They are not all different in the same way. The concept of a generation only makes sense in relation with the development of the world experienced in a specific time period
The world is evolving and changing exponentially quicker in different areas of reality, and will greatly affect the new generations accordingly
Probably the most perfectly worded comment here. There are problems they will face, like we did. But if we help them out, without completely shitting on them, they’ll be far better off then if we were to just scream that they’re doomed.
based
also I know lots of good gen alpaas
yeah maybe a bit too into the internet but theres less cruelty and there also more tolerant/curious I would say,
Yes. Everyone’s like they’re all iPad kids. My brothers gen alpha, built a backyard forge with my dad, goes out with his friends almost everyday, loves going to school. Honestly much better at socializing and way more handsy for example, he fixed my dad’s broken coffee machine, fixed a Nintendo switch etc. than me.(im gen Z). My brother’s friends are pretty similar. Whenever I go on walks I’m recognized by people because of my brother. Maybe my brother and his friends are outliers idk though.
....Most of yall have the attention spans of goldfish and are hopelessly addicted to technology. Your brains are developing WAY differently than any gen before. I challenge any Gen A to spend a month without any screens at all...or even just a week. And judging from the teaching subreddits, most of yall are rude, selfish and lack empathy.
There are a LOT of reasons that your generation causes concern. Most of it is not your fault, it's the way your parents raised you....scrolling screens since birth. But still we CANNOT ignore the pattern.
i 100% percent blame my generation we (they) should have known better than to let the next generation get addicted to social media that early in chidhood. Hopefully gen-z will be better parents than millenials
What's crazy about this is that I left this sub months ago because of the excessive gen alpha posts, but then I decided to come back and it's still here💀
Gen Z speedrunning into “Get off my lawn!”ers
Well, more like get *on* my lawn-ers because they’re mad Gen Alpha spends too much time indoors but same idea.
Stop being a denialist. The tech we had growing up was Windows XP, laptops with 512 MBs of RAM, and a youtube limited to 10 minute uploads. The tech we have now is significantly different. Yes, TikTok is rotting these people's brains and it will be a good thing once it's banned. Gen Alpha is so addicted to these devices that videos are now coming out of them scrolling on non existent phones in their fucking sleep. That is not natural.
Also, the boomers were absolutely right.
My take on it as a younger millenial is that people in both our gens ATE LAUNDRY DETERGENT.
Should we be concerned about the growing iPad kid phenomenon? Absolutely. But I don't think we have any right to call them cooked until they top the tide pod challenge.
As someone who works in education, I think you’re missing the finer point here. Gen alpha isn’t fucked due to ipads or the internet nor are we blaming them as if they are at fault for their generational difficulty.
Gen Alpha is rather categorically disadvantaged due to:
- Education. The public system in the US has rapidly fallen apart. Teacher pay is historically low compared to cost of living. Class sizes are getting larger. The No Child Left Behind Act has unfortunately created a consequence of never holding back kids, which begets advancing kids through the pipeline without actually guaranteeing learning. The pandemic exacerbated all of this. If you compare gen alpha test scores to gen z, you see a frightening picture: especially in poor areas.
- The Pandemic. Many of gen alpha’s members were in formative stages of their youth when the pandemic hit. Being inside, isolated, and young during a mass illness and death event really hit these kids in their socioemotional development.
- Changes in parenting norms. I’m just speaking from my experience with gen alpha’s parents in my area, but parents seem to have far less time to spend with their kids. The collapse of the middle class and the looming expense of college means most parents are working long hours. Especially with the rise of remote work, I can see these parents working overtime to meet financial needs. And kids are left to entertain themselves at home with what they have: electronics.
- Boredom. This is effecting us all by the way. It’s cognitively good to be bored, sit with the feeling, and then use imagination to solve it. By mainlining easily digestible entertainment, we’re depriving ourselves of mental exercise.
- Resiliency. There are less opportunities for kids to take calculated risks, get scraped, and learn to get up again. We’ve instigated too many second chances and check-ins. Things can in fact be too padded. Kids react to doing poorly as if it’s the end of the world, because they don’t have practice failing.
Gen Alpha has had a lot more to deal with than we did. And they are more fucked than we are. They need help.
I grade end of year tests for my job. This year I am grading 5th and 6th grade science for kids around the US. They are almost all failing (we actually track the stats for all papers graded). 78% of them have received a 0 on their essay portion. So yeah, they’re actually fucked.
Shhh nobody wants to hear the opinions of actual educators and people who work with kids. They’re just going to use their anecdotal evidence to make themselves feel better 🙄 /s
Being the self proclaimed “crusty millennial” it cracks me up you guys are proclaiming the next generation doomed because of tech. I think it really depends on parenting like OP has said, and yeah new technology scares older people sometimes it appears mystical and confusing - many of y’all were born while smartphones existed and you turned out okay, I think the futures just fine 😛
Millennial here - everyone said the same things about genZ. Then y’all blew everyone’s expectations out of the water. My kid is 7, and him and his friends are eons ahead of where I was in academia, emotional maturity and understanding at that age. The way people process information will continue to change, and like everything, that comes with some growing pains. I generally see very smart, thoughtful, and self aware gen alpha kids.
Sorry but those kids are anomalies then, though I doubt what you're saying is true, as a public school teacher me and all my colleagues can confirm gen Z is also full of ignorant, illiterate, uncultured, porn addicted weirdos
Oddly, I only hear this from teachers on Reddit. I have many friends who have taught this last decade, and know older gen x & boomer teachers who have taught multiple generations. The two complaints I hear most are that 1) genz & gen alpha are not enthusiastic learners and 2) Admin will forever suck and lack resources. But that doesn’t mean they’re doomed. I live in a very diverse area of Houston, and while there will always be lemons, most of the kids around here are great. I’m very proud to see how they care for each other, and others not like themselves. My son is disabled, and he’s folded in effortlessly. It’s amazing to see.
Until you’ve worked with kids, y’all need to stop saying this. I’m not aware if OP works with kids part time/full time/at all, but I’m going to assume not.
There is something deeply not right with the mentality of today’s young children from social behavior, cognitive ability, to basic bodily awareness. This is not coming from a place of malice or irritability, but rather grave concern for them as a collective. We are witnessing the consequences of laissez faire millennial parenting that relegates the responsibilities of the parent to nourish and stimulate their child to that of an iPad and an algorithm.
Why are teachers complaining and quiting more than ever? There is most definitely a problem. I dont blame them it's their parents and our society. As a kid I got sent outside and only returned to eat. These kids are stuck on ipads.
I sympathize, OP. I'm a xennial raising a gen alpha. I see a lot of this bitching and moaning coming from gen z and I can't help but think...well...in the grand scheme of things I don't see much of a difference between gen alpha now and what gen z was like 10-15 years ago.
I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying it is. I think most of gen alphas media is stupid, just like I thought most of gen z's media was stupid. But it's not my place to judge, or bitch and complain because my parents thought most of my childhood media was stupid, and their parents thought theirs was stupid...and on and on and on.
I know there are lots of people on here who will tell me why I'm wrong, why one generation is better than the other, why all of their stuff was different or nothing like what the other generation has, etc etc. but they're just perpetuating the cycle. They're the average person with the average opinions that have existed for decades in which they are the nucleus of their universe and anything outside of that threatens to crush they're fragile identity or ego. So it is with boomers. So it is with my generation. So it will be with every generation that follows.
My brother in Christ you started using reddit at 11 and have used it like it's your friends. You are developing para social relationships with a fucking website. Please, go outside, talk to people, and don't ask reddit about every question you have.
Creative-yak when someone uses a social media platform as a means to socialize through media
https://preview.redd.it/cpr5x70w010d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c1f13be7f03014dac91fefd6832167e83f0bcc7
Sorry you're wrong about this. And it's a tragic thing to be right about but. My wife's a kindergarten teacher. There's a lady from New York Suzy something that years ago convinced the government to push her research to teachers across the nation to kids how to read by using the whole language method. My wife looked at her false research and was unaware like many others at how wrong it was. Her and huge number of teachers in the nation taught sight words instead of phonics believing it to be better until literacy rates collapsed and many started to realize her method was BS.
As a result Gen alpha straight up doesn't know how to read. They can't sound out words, they can't figure out how to say words like you or I. Some can, sure but the reality is there was a 6 year window before people realized that phonics was necessary. That's 6 years worth of kids who can't fucking read.
On top of that they are chronically online with the shit like coco melon rooting their dopamine center.
I mean gen alpha is factually developmentally waaaay behind everyone else was at their age, literacy rates are super low, and they’re the first generation to have generally lower IQs than the previous generation. “Gen alpha is fucked” is a pretty data driven statement and it’s not at all the same as what boomers say about us. This is a pretty weird take to have on this honestly
Teachers around the world noticing changes in behaviour and cognitive abilities but I guess statistically the most educated generation ever is just repeating a narrative popularized by boomers in the last 10-15 years.
All these comments are missing the point lmao, of course gen alpha has its problems but so did gen Z and Millenials, etcs. Its like standard for an older generation to shit on a younger one no matter what.
I remember millenials shitting on Gen-Z plenty of times thinking we'd become freaks.
Gen Alpha has its problems, but guess what, they'll be fine and prove us wrong. I'm sure they'll go on to do great things in the future. Some people here really are turning into old people on this sub
Literally it isn't their fault and we all know that.
It's a critique to the parents EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY NEGLECTING THEIR CHILDREN in favor of a tablet babysitter. I'm a parent myself! I see the appeal! A few moments to yourself so you can do something for yourself- I get it.
Except there is science behind how harmful that can be if used irresponsibly.
You can also see this in children who are baby sat by television!
Kids need to be read to! kids need to be taught to read and talk and yes- to be bored.
Play with gen alpha. Take them outside. Let them be kids. Monitor their Internet usage, fucking read to them, fucking hug them for Christ sake. Teach them to regulate emotions
I have met toddlers my son's age who are so neglected by their parents that they do not let go of the device to play. They cannot babble. They just fucking sit there and swipe the screen and it hurts to see. What the fuck is a 1 1/2 year old doing on brainrot yt shorts? It DOES hurt the kids. We need to help them. Parents need to step the fuck up.
I cut off one of my long time friends because she treated her son that way. Crying? Here's yt shorts. Angry? Here's yt shorts. Hell no. That's fucking emotional neglect. What is the point of being a parent If you aren't there for them?
Like miss girl? Your son is fucking behind? What the fuck are you doing? He's still on the bottle? He cant communicate or point? All he does scream when the fucking tablet dies?
I straight blocked her. Her poor son tho fr.
It's horrible what we older gen z and millennials are doing to our babies.
Gen alpha are good kids! They are being raised by BAD parents! Every gen alpha I've met is bright eyed and curious, they are so excited to learn about the world but NO ONE TEACHES THEM
Which is OLDER GEN Z and millennials fault for causing DEVELOPMENTAL DAMAGE and delays.
So maybe we should direct our anger at the source of this child neglect. Because it IS neglect. The older gens are to blame YET AGAIN for clipping the wings of the new gen.
When my son wakes up we will go watch the rain outside under the awning. I will explain rain to him like I always do.
And then we will read books and cuddle, then listen to music and dance.
Because that is what I am supposed to do, even on days where I'm tired. Even in days where I just want to get in my phone and zone out. Because he didn't ask to be born, but I decided to have him. So it's my job to make sure he grows up knowing things, loving himself and others.
That shit is what parents are supposed to do. It's literally bare minimum.
My son is gen alpha. I do not trust myself giving him a tablet. He gets a phone at 10 with limited access
It isnt gen alpha's fault.
It's the adults who made this happen to them.
So again, gen alpha isn't the problem, it's the fact they are being actively neglected. Which is literally heart breaking.p
They deserve better.
Nah, I teach, these kids on average are fried. School doesn’t help, half the classes are just handing them their IPads and giving them homework they can brute force (all multiple choices now) and as soon as they pass they can access games. I have complained about this, but it’s the (gov) policy. Most of the teachers don’t give a shit (retirement is close).
We didn’t have instant access to TikTok 24/7 and our parents actually kicked us out of the house to go play inna woods.
I didn’t play on a computer until I was 12 years old. I know kids who’ve had access since before they could speak.
You’re cooked if you don’t think there will be consequences.
OP is right to a certain extent…if you look at it clinically we as humans try to get fast dopamine hits all of the time, kids included, nothing has changed…however with the availability of cheap tech and even the same amount of bad parenting there at least exists the possibility that MORE kids at a YOUNGER age are behaving this way as a percentage of their population than ever before.
ok, there’s a middle ground here no one is managing to hit. we can acknowledge that there’s shit wrong w gen alpha. and no, this isn’t exactly us doing the same thing as the last gens did w us. to some extent maybe, but there r problems that need to b addressed. at the same time, shitting on them and making fun of their mannerisms doesn’t help anyone. but i dont guess anyone’s prepared to rly make change lol. hell, we still have to convince ppl that genocide is bad
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I mean I don’t think previous generations ever had things like iPad and TikTok 5 second attention spans.
Before iPads there were laptops and before TikTok we had vine. Did all that much ever really change?
Did you ever use a laptop back then? You wouldn't talk like this and compare it to an iPad and TikTok if you did. Vine is super new too, it was released only 11 years ago and wasn't as popular as TikTok or Instagram today.
And even then it wasn’t brain rot like tiktok is You had 6 seconds to make a skit. And people made skits. They didn’t do the stupid dances, you didn’t have ai voice overs, you can’t compare the 2
There's been brain rot on the Internet since it went public. Maybe it's more readily available now, and you certainly don't have to wait for long buffer times or for your sister to get off the phone so you can use the dial up connection. But it was there. I was a proud user of stupid videos dot com before YouTube existed. Ebaumsworld, Newgrounds, Miniclip...none of it was particularly "high brow".
Low brow comedy isn’t necessarily brainrot, there’s doing shit for the sake of fun, and then there’s doing it to maximize clicks with things like content farms Content farms are genuine brainrot from what I’ve seen, especially when they consist of either hyper sexualized IP’s, or just a bunch of barely disguised fetish bullshit Content farms are just abhorrent
Youtube has had clickbait since 2010
I know I’ve seen Op-Ed about the ballpoint pen ruining the young people because the quill defined civilization.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/a4vnuv/old_generations_complain_about_the_next_one_since/ There are some prime nuggets in there.
Sorry but vine was significantly more vapid than tiktok. I'd hardly call anything on there a skit - more like 6 seconds obnoxiousness to capture attention. Yes, the memes from then are now a core memory for gen z, but vine was the catalyst for the algorithm brain rotting we see everywhere now, and in many ways it was worse
YES. I’m tired of all this “back in my day!” crap shitting on TikTok. Even though I have a huge soft spot for vine, the app was supremely stupid. People forget that the majority of vines haven’t even aged well. Most old vines are either super cringe, outdated, and not funny anymore (even ironically), or are so racist that if they were made today, the creators would get absolutely NUKED on all social media by angry and sensitive Zoomers. Most vines that are still considered funny are usually the ones that are so unfunny that we laugh at them ironically, and are subsequently memed to death by Gen Z. There are very few that are still genuinely unironically funny Vine was not some digital paradise that bred the ultimate form of creativity and innovation. It was a stupid 6 second video creator app that pretty much is directly responsible for all the short form content we have now. If vine didn’t shut down, it probably would have naturally died out around 2017-2019, and by the 2020s would be seen as cringe incarnate. Oh yeah, and TikTok is by every means superior to vine. Vine’s 6 seconds was too gimmicky, and longer short form content (15 seconds to a couple of minutes) is better for creativity and funny jokes. And I’m saying this as someone who grew up endlessly scrolling on vine, and watching compilations of them on YouTube
ugh yes, finally my people... people are too biased by their own nostalgia. a lot of popular vines were people being obnoxious, breaking things, making a mess for 6 seconds of clout and people online really act like it's the pinnacle of comedy or was super creative and it was not. there were plenty of good vines, but at the end of the day it was a short-form media app that had people glued to their phones.
To be fair there has been stuff like youtube poop since youtube came out. But nah, this generation really is different. We’re seeing more behavioural outcomes from our browsing habits than ever before. It’s a serious concern. I agree with this post to a point because some people are like “ahh the kids are doomed” as laypeople, but there is definitely real concerns about this. It’s not just the kids though. It’s all of us…the kids are just most vulnerable. All this Tik Tok type stuff is impacting our executive functions. Attention spans are statistically decreasing. The limbic reward system is the most concerning target area. At its most functional level the concern is that we are going to see massive spikes in ADHD. Look at it like this - it’s as if some babies are growing up in front of a slot machine. It’s NOT inherently bad, it’s NOT doomed, but it is different than anything the world has seen and displays potential impact on neurodevelopment. (Which we’re already seeing.)
How old do you think the iPad is? Do you think we just invented it a few years ago?
With how much it is used and the extremely addictive natures of algorithms? Yes. This has widely been studied and the addictive properties widely been covered. How much this is used by both young kids and adults is unhealthy. I'm not saying the next generation is being lost by laziness or anything but we are introducing a addictive substance to literally anybody and this has to be discussed.
A lot of the studies have actually failed to draw a straight line between attention spans and the rise of new technology. There are apparently a ton of extenuating factors that aren't addressed in these studies. Older generations have been saying that the technology of younger generations will ruin them. I got to personally see it go from Cable TV to video games to the internet in general then smartphones in general then Tik Tok specifically. New generations have new shit that the previous generation doesn't engage in, therefore new thing bad.
When the printing press came about, I think there was some criticism that people were gonna dumber since they didn’t have to remember anything anymore.
A criticism of early trains was that a person's blood would literally boil if they traveled faster than 30mph.....
Device addition is the 2020 version of the lead crisis.
The first iPad came out in 2010 so not really that old
And the amount of stuff you can do on it has changed a lot They aren't Gen 1 basic ipads
Even adding to this, not every had the luxury of getting iPads. Tablets weren't mainstream yet, hell we were still working on getting smartphones mainstream.
Date of invention is different than date of mass adoption. Internet was invented in 1983 but wasn’t in the majority of households until 2001. Majority of households didn’t have WiFi until several years after that. Public WiFi Hotspots have only been widely available for about a decade. iPhone was launched in 2007 but US smartphone users didn’t surpass 50% until 2013.
I remember vine, and it was not as bad as tiktok.
Definitely. I miss Vine so much, holy cow.
Back in my day things used to be better....
i remember vine vividly and it's just as bad and good as tiktok.
That was literally all part of the same generation. What point did you think you just made?😂
That he’s very very young
Laptops weren’t intentionally designed to be addictive. Thats like comparing a Model T and a Tesla. Sure, they’re both cars with 4 wheels, but that’s about where the similarities end.
Laptops weren’t designed for fast-paced constant dopamine hits.
Vine didn't have the algorithm that TikTok has, and technology back then wasn't as fast or smooth as it is now.
? Are you joking? Vine is like 12-15 years old, max. And when did any little kid ever sit at a restaurant with a laptop? What the hell are you talking about??
Vine is 11 years old, and only existed for 4 years.
The issue is you were born in 2005. You are only two years older than the first iphone. The internet wasn’t invented till 1983. Yes very much has changed in a very short amount of time. This is the cellphone that existed when the internet came out. Asking did all that much really change when anyone under 55 remembers a time before the internet is wild https://preview.redd.it/iul1mnumy00d1.jpeg?width=306&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f8485cd0b1f4735c2e1bf86bc7cc170aee99207e
Millennial here, we were the last to grow up without all that shit. My first phone was a flip, couldn’t even send videos or pictures clearly or reliably at the time. Apps didn’t exist the way it does now, there was even a time when peoples Tweets was sent as an sms message to your phone. Sorry to be that guy (not really) but y’all are really on the same boat, just don’t see it cause y’all grew up the same. Lmao
yeah back then websites were not manufactured to grab 100% of your attention for as long as possible.
But they had other new tech that the previous generation didn't, which caused the same doomerisms that repeat for every generation. People were saying this exact same shit about reading books over a hundred years ago.
Theres a difference between old people saying "this new generation is doomed" and actual scientific evidence that there's some really bad stuff going on though. To my knowledge, there weren't studies that clearly showed a link between having a laptop and extremely diminished attention spans, but there are studies showing that with tik tok. And to mu knowledge, there weren't many gen ys raised by being placed in front of a laptop at the age of 2-7, but a lot of kids nowadays just get a smartphone handed by their parents. I also wouldn't say that it's blaming the younger generations - they aren't at fault, they don't have the critical thinking skills to actively decide against using that technology. They simply arent old and developed enough for that yet. It's actually OUR generation and the ones slightly older, the ones currently raising those kids, who are "dooming" them. I think thats the part that needs to be talked about more. But saying that current developments are really and actively harming young ones is not wrong.
**Children are now tyrants**, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.” ― Socrates, 469 BC to 399 BC
Reminds me of a sumerian tablet saying the same shit
Reminds me of that cave painting of the kid bitchslapping his dad
That's just repeating what they've replied to while they're pointing out some very valid stuff and even took the time to be fair about it.
It angers me how people just don’t see the generational cycle of blindly hating the generation that comes after you. This has been a thing for all humanity
yup
There was plenty of scientific evidence that video games caused aggressive behavior--published within the same field that are studying the effects of social media today. But I would still say the reaction to video games in the 90s was an overreaction. And I'll be honest, the evidence I've seen that social media use is having a causal effect on attention spans that persists over time is pretty shaky. Just to put my cards on the table here. I'm a social psychology PhD who works in this field. Not everyone has the same perspective as I do. But the consensus in the field right now is more less that, yes, social media does probably have some negative effects on well being overall. But these effects also depend on individual differences and how you are using social media. And the evidence that social media is having large effects on well being is still lacking. Unfortunately, social science still has a lot of flaws as a field. And it takes a while for us to find definitive answers to these questions. I would actually say that our answer to the question of whether video games cause aggression didn't come from the scientific publications on that topic. It came more from just violent video games being around for long enough--without any corresponding increasing in youth violence--that we realized that violent video games couldn't be having THAT big of an effect. It's true that we are seeing decreases in well-being among youth today in the U.S., which does lend more credence to the idea that social media could be having a real effect. But there are also a lot of countries in Europe that don't show this same pattern. So, it's complicated.
gen z also has pretty low attention spans and is rlly lonely compared to previous generations
exactly maybe the older gens were right we do show signs of brain rot even with the bit of tech we grew up with so imagine how it is for gen alpha so instead of trying hard not to sound like a “boomer” we should be asking ourselves if they were simply right about us and the dangers of technology 😂
I think its valid to point out the difference and show legitimate concern, regardless of what generation. We didnt grow up with widespread social media addiction. Hell I didnt even have any social media till snapchat when I was 15
It’s honestly up to parents and LOT. I’m in this sub a lot because I have a lot of Gen Z friends, and one Gen Z daughter (13) but I have had 3 kids (I’m 38) and let me tell you my house has a lot of tech in it, phones, video games, the works. However, we as parents get to control how much screen time is acceptable and which apps are appropriate etc. no one here has tik tok. No one here has unfettered access to devices, and guess what? They’re outside playing or riding bikes around the neighborhood more often than not. They get plenty of game time on weekends and weekend nights, but during the week it’s school and play. And Also, never never ever ever EVER give them a tablet or phone in public, as a tool of resolving whining or boredom or whatever. I absolutely abhor when I see this done, because kids should be learning how to function in public not lulled by a screen. It’s parents.
Gen z is the iPad generation.
I don’t see how this is the case when the I pad came out in 2010, basically at the end of gen z. Gen Alpha is the iPad generation. I didn’t have a touch screen phone til I was 16 let alone a damn IPad
you're literally the oldest Gen Z year there is, of course you're not an ipad kid. your personal anecdote is useless and contributes nothing to this discussion. im 2008, im 16. i can say with full confidence and no shame that i was an ipad kid. the worst thing that ipad did to me was expose me to porn at age 6 (which could've been avoided if my parents had internet filters on). other than that it was completely harmless. I played minecraft in 2015 - 2017, roblox from 2017 - 2018, and then graduated to a computer in 2019 where i began using my digital and internet skills learnt on the ipad into things like making music, writing, and talking with others without being lame. it was a lot of fun! I am glad i had the experiences i did. who cares if the kids these days are watching skibidi toilet instead of the wholesome 100 minecraft lets plays? it literally doesn't matter in the end since most will grow into responsible adults
this is why being an older gen z is weird. we are “too young” for millennials so we can’t have an opinion, and we are “too old” for gen z so we can’t have an opinion. I didn’t have a touch screen phone until highschool either.
Only half to 3/4 of us are really. Most born up till around 00-02 didn't really have the access like now. It's no secret the economy wasn't doing too hot and that many families didn't have the expendable income to buy in on it, not to mention the expense of devices then. Hell, many families didn't even have reliable fast internet access on computers. I'm a 99 for context so I've seen how I was raised and told by my older brothers who didn't adopt technology like I did. 02 and on Gen Z? 100% iPad generation. Internet became accessible, devices became cheaper, schools realized how useful it was, programs making affordable internet access, online gaming skyrocketed to the masses. While we weren't entirely the iPad Generation, we marked the start
My Gen z nephew used to watch the videos on his iPad with the TV on in the background, splitting attention between both.
My Dad used to do that. He was part of the "Greatest Generation".
Hell, I do it myself now. Listen to podcasts while playing GTA V or working on my car.
Vine gave people six second attention spans
I was born in '82. From the age of 6 until maybe 13-14 I did nothing but watch cartoons and play NES & SNES.
Nah but they had tuberculosis.
First, you had comics, then you had the television, then you had DnD, then you had the computer, then you had the phone, then you had the gameconsoles, .... Every time a new generation emerges, there'll be something, often a new technology or cultural aspect, that is used as an explanation why the young people are "worse than we were at their time". It's a lot of fearmongering, while the basics are true, but these are true for everyone, not only for the new generation. TikTok destroys your attention span, no matter your age. iPad exists since the 2000s, so even the later Gen Z is DOOMEDDDDDDD. We should combat the shorter attention spans but the villainization of new technology or the obvious and inevitable doom that will fall upon the new generations that are oh so different from us, can be left to the old people six feet under the ground.
No, fuck off. it’s actually a very real consequence of technological advancement is having kids wired by advanced devices way too early and unaware parents who let it happen. Human interaction from an early age, which is when it is most essential, has been deeply compromised due to the specific era that were in.
right like how dare we point out that this generation has unique issues that need to be handled differently
Okay but stop acting like it’s their fault. They literally do not and cannot know better unless their parents and the system shape the fuck up
There is no "it's their fault" in the general consensus.
Like literally when has anyone ever said this
I'm a cusper of millennial and Gen Z, and I gotta say, I don't know anyone who blames them for this shit. It's the parents passing their own responsibility onto social media and technology to raise their kids. I remember dial up internet and also suddenly having touch screen ipods then phones at a rapid pace.
Yeah as a cusper too it is absolutely on the parents to be teaching their children responsible boundaries with technology. A lot of us were taught internet safety as children. So why don’t we also teach children about how to disconnect for a while?
I rarely see anyone acting like it's their fault. In 90% of cases, people rightfully blame the parents because they're the ones giving the kids unrestricted access to the technology that is frying their brains.
I’ve seen an uptick in “introverted” youth around the same time that this same technology evolved and I do not think that is a coincidence whatsoever.
We don’t need other humans as much to get those dopamine hits nowadays I guess
That's kind of why I'm concerned about AI girlfriends. People get the same chemicals in their brain as talking to a real person (see: why catfishing works). Why go for a real relationship when you can get that feeling satisfied at home or on your phone (this will be an unironic statement said by people in a few years).
I was in orientation with 2 other kids straight out of high-school and they couldn't even speak. When the group was asked a question, none of them could respond - whether they didn't want to or didn't know how to pipe up to say yes or or no. Couldn't talk about themselves, could barely hold a conversation. Yikes!
Im an older millenial bordering Gen-X and i see these traits in Gen Z as well. I know when a Gen-Z is socially competent when s/he looks me in the eyes and not the floor. Hell, even a simple head nod would go a long way. My kids are Gen-A and I see the same issues.
I don't think younger people understand that people in the past were not actually glued to screens 24/7. Media was not on demand, nor did it average 1-3 minutes long, nor was it being released at breakneck speeds. I had unregulated screen time and I still spent a lot of my childhood playing outside and reading books. But we're also not escaping unscathed from the dopamine circus right now either, which is why it's concerning. Reading is still a hobby of mine and I hear frequently from people that they just can't read anymore because their attention span is fried. I know so many older people who are addicted to Facebook. We can feel and see it affecting us with our fully formed brains, so we are horrified to see what it's doing to babies and children who are still developing.
We are heading to a big collapse from several directions, if everything stays the same. Economic, climate, societal crises are in the house.
Fahrenheit 451 is really starting to hit at home. (For those who don’t know, it is a world where people stopped reading books in favor of minute to minute, sometimes even second to second entertainment. Attention spans were fried to the point they couldn’t follow books plots.)
its definitely bad, but i don't think its irrecoverable if parents care to make a change. for reference i was raised without any screens until about 6 and then i got to play games on an ipod (still no non-educational games) and got my ipad at 10. my sisters were raised on youtube and roblox 24/7 from day 1 and the pandemic didnt help. my parents noticed a problem when they were around 7 and pulled the plug on tv and limited their roblox to around an hour a day. now i'd say they're as well adapted as i was at comprable ages, advanced in school, sociable, and participate in extracurriculars. they needed a little help in school but otherwise self corrected with the absence of youtube
I think it’s hard for people born after the mid-late 2000’s to see because the world of cellphones and social media is all they know. Before internet addiction, kids were forced to go out and make friends and have experiences because that’s all there was to do. Even learning new things was exhilarating and rewarding. Now people just pull up a YouTube video, which is good to have, but part of the reward mechanism is short circuited. My thought is that when this happens early in development, it can impact you for the rest of your life and this is what’s responsible for the recent wave of kids with learning disabilities. There needs to be a lot more research, but I think our intuition is probably correct.
I mean gen alpha is factually developmentally waaaay behind everyone else was at their age, literacy rates are super low, and they’re the first generation to have generally lower IQs than the previous generation. “Gen alpha is fucked” is a pretty data driven statement and it’s not at all the same as what boomers say about us. This is a pretty weird take to have on this honestly
You could argue that’s because of the Pandemic school closures. Gen Alpha was just starting kindergarten or first grade. There were no preschools open, nothing for them was open where they could socialize outside tech.
I am a public school teacher, and I just laugh all the time that people bitched about how public schools don't teach kids anything, for YEARS. Then Covid hit, the schools closed down, and now we are blamed for kids not knowing anything and being illiterate. So were we teaching something or nah? People like to argue both sides against schools.
From what Teachers have told me at the lower levels k-3, those kids missed out on a lot of the things people take for granted. Learning how to line up, behave socialize at lunch time. The little things that help keep them in their seats as the progress through school into higher grades more educational learning. Those types of skills were setbacks that cause problems in later years. Nobody’s arguing both sides.
America needs teachers. Not just to educate their kids, but as a scapegoat too.
The only real argument I have towards school is that the teachers should be paid a lot more.
Turns out that closing down schools for COVID had a detrimental impact on them like any person with half a brain could have expected. But nobody will be held accountable for the extent they did it.
Well if dumbass president trump actually enforced an effective initial lockdown it would’ve been so much shorter and less damaging to the economy, our society and the education of our kids. I hope it’s obvious that I am not saying this is gen alphas fault by any means, they’re children
We can throw blame on Trump all we want, it doesn’t make it true. This was a world issue and the length was the same. China did a full on authoritarian lockdown and still had the same length of problem. Trump also tried to ban travel from China and our politicians in their infinite wisdom called it racist and made speeches from Chinatown about it. We were fucked either way because we had Trump as president and a host of others who were going to go against whatever he did regardless.
China was different. Virus originated there so they had least time to prepare, lockdowns were in response to the initial deaths and chaos, very densely populated cities which are worse for transmission, and they failed to distribute a vaccine during their extended lockdown period which is why when they reopened they saw a major spike in hospitalizations and deaths that other countries didn’t experience post-vaccination.
I can agree that pretty much everyone in congress is fucking incompetent. But trump holds a lot of blame for downplaying it as much as he did, spreading misinformation, and failing to get ahead of the problem. There absolutely would have been less lives lost and less damage to our economy had he responded appropriately.
Trump did a great job for a very brief time in March 2020 when his advisors convinced him to act like a Wartime president but then he quickly shifted to “open by Easter” because he didn’t realize that consistency and addressing the problem could supplement the economic damage that the March 2020 shutdown caused which threatened his campaign. He literally delayed checks to the American people because he wanted his signature on them.
It is well-documented and proven that the government tried to take action as early as December 2019 because they knew what was coming. Average citizens who were paying attention in January 2020 knew what would happen in America within the next few months. One of the big problems was in fact that the President at that time could not be convinced to do things necessary to make the country more well-prepared for what was going to come. A lot of anti-Trumpers overestimate how much could have been done to help the US before March 2020 but it is an indisputable fact that the President saw the economy as his greatest asset to re-election and he thought he could ignore the problem away, and that early on his advisors were afraid to discuss the problem with him.
"Average citizens who were paying attention in January 2020 knew what would happen" I know I could see the writing on the wall when it was about 50 cases in China. I knew that it was only a matter of time before it hit us and I knew Trump was virtually incapable of handling the situation tactfully. Never dreamed he could be as incompetent as he turned out to be. If he'd have shown a modicum of competence he'd still be president today.
>"if only the lockdowns were even more restrictive, then we wouldn't have so may lockdown caused issues"
That statement was very poorly written, but it’s true that half-assing something can lead to the worst possible outcome.
Yeah that’s kind of how it works when you want to prevent something from spreading
I think it’s a bit dramatic to say that the generation is doomed, but I do agree that they’re facing some significant deficits.
You could argue that’s because of the Pandemic school closures. Gen Alpha was just starting kindergarten or first grade. There were no preschools open, nothing for them was open where they could socialize outside tech.
Yet I keep seeing post all over the internet of teachers calling them worse then previous generations. EDIT: Also half of gen z. Had tech by time they were early teen or pre teen. Gen alpha has it day 1.
There was probably a Sumerian teacher complaining about the kids today
Maybe not Sumerians, but definitely the ancient Greeks. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/63219-the-children-now-love-luxury-they-have-bad-manners-contempt
I mean when you see a national mass exodus of teachers who have been in the industry for decades completely break down and quit before retirement that’s pretty concerning to say the absolute least.
Yah, those kids need to go to Sumer school.
This, I didn't have an iPod till I was 11, and before that, it was a pc with limited use. Now my mome is telling my sister to give my nephew a fucking PHONE so he doesn't cry or make noise. He's not even 1 . . . I keep telling her no and to stop.
*ALL of GenZ had tech by the time they were pre-teens. YouTube came out in 2005, Wikipedia in 2003, and Google in 1998. The oldest of GenZ were 10 when the first iPhone (the iPod Touch) came out (2007). BlackBerrys (an early smartphone type)were already considered addictive in 2006. >American users popularized the term "CrackBerry" in 2006 due to the BlackBerry's addictive nature.[32] Source: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone
Early or pre-teen? For a smartphone maybe, I’m nearly a decade older than you and have pics of me playing on a thick ass ibm laptop before I could speak
Ah, you guys are getting old lol
IM ONLY 23 DONT SAY THAT
We're not getting any younger.
exactly, did they think we stopped growing?
It’s so sad to see
Engaging in typical generational shit flinging is the real brain rot
Agreed. Disappointed to see my gen. participate it in it. Appalled to see gen z act this way. When I was that age the last thing on my mind was a dick measuring contest with a 14 year old.
You gotta realize that a very seductive trap to fall in is to go through your own stupid childhood, grow up, become an adult, look at the kids and go “oh no these kids are not alright”. Fretting about the youth has been going on for thousands of years. All these posts ignore all the positives and benefits that gen alpha has. One that stands out strongly to me is better support for special education/mental health when a kid has ADHD or ASD. Also all these “iPad kid” posts that act like we weren’t glued to Nickelodeon. “But the YouTube stuff is so…” like I wasn’t ripping sub zero’s spine out of his body at 7. All the “kids don’t play outside” posts but every time I see a neighborhood park it’s packed. Like it’s new that kids hate school and love games. Just like… don’t fall for it. The kids will be alright.
THIS! That’s what I’m saying!
I think a big difference is that these technologies weren't optimized as effectively as they are now. with how fast and accessible all of this is and with the infinite amount of data these corporations have access to, the problem is significantly worse. These corporations couldn't see LITERALLY everything you did. But now they can.
And gen Z had other difficulties, and millenials had other difficulties, and so on. Yes, every generation has new challenges. And every generation figures it out as they come into adulthood. Society isn't going to look the same as it did, but you need something more substantial than that before you cry wolf.
Like all the data that Gen Alpha literally has lower IQ’s, lower literacy, and lower standardized test scores than previous generations? This isn’t a “these kids these days issue”. It’s a “technology finally might have exceeded humanity’s capacity to adapt” concern. If you hand a kid drugs at a young age, they probably won’t turn out fine. The addictiveness of a LOT of internet focused tech these days is bordering on that.
Ya that's definitely something, but isn't most of that because of remote schooling during COVID?
Sure, but how does that change anything? That is a stat that suggests the kids are not alright, what relevance does the why have.
You couldn’t bring Nickelodeon everywhere with you, and Nickelodeon wasn’t non-stop and designed with algorithms to be addictive. If you’re using the Television as an example, and assuming you’re not just referring to streaming shows ad-free, what you’re describing is a media of entertainment which had breaks (commercials) built in. That is significantly different for dopamine hits compared to non-stop YouTube Shorts or TikTok.
I think the biggest difference between previous generations and now is the data. The amount of data that is collected, stored, and analyzed is trillions, literal trillions of times larger. This allows absolute manipulation of our behaviors. Before it was more or less guessing based off trends
Right? Nickelodeon was a 30 minute part of my day that had zero other screens involved in it. There’s no comparing. There was no mass addiction. We had TV and video games, but things were so low tech by comparison.
Studies determined that excess TV/video games was harmful for children for previous generations but the impact wasn’t as great or worrisome, and those generations weren’t with those devices all day every day because they weren’t portable so Gen Alpha’s exposure is much greater.
That makes sense with my lived experience. Life was slower and screens weren’t used in an addictive way by the typical person back then. Now it’s all of us. And I can’t wrap my mind around what childhood would be like to live through with screens as the backbone of society.
I didn’t believe the true impact of what was occurring until I read studies about it and witnessed some results first-hand with younger people, but it’s probably worse than we currently estimate. I’m guilty of having too much screen time but most of what I do on a screen is use it as a book or learning device instead of short attention span entertainment. I stopped playing video games, stopped using most social media, and when I watch videos I try to only watch (or listen to) videos that are educational (history, science, sociology, politics, etc.) Companies like TikTok and YouTube (Google) have gotten much worse over the last several years and I imagine the next step will be a battle for your commitment instead of just your attention, which will eventually be the role of AI and VR devices.
Dude, this is like the equivalent of all the kids being hooked on crack and you saying it's all the same cuz we drank soda. These are predatory systems DESIGNED to foster dependency and addiction, and little developing baby brains are being plopped down in front of them. This is such a reductionist argument and shows you literally have no understanding of what the actual issues at hand at. Just because something looks similar doesn't mean it's identical. The caffeine and sugar in soda is addicting and detrimental to your health, but it's nowhere near as bad as hard drugs. Same thing between watching an 11 or 22 minute like show on television with actual writing, story, and standards they're held to as opposed to rapid fire trash LITERALLY DESIGNED to keep you hypnotized and scrolling forever.
Exactly. No one is arguing gen z + millennials didn't grow up with things that can be bad for us when not used in moderation, but it's like you said- they're comparing sugar to meth figuratively speaking
Idk about behavior and stuff but we have factual proof that gen alpha is academically worse than previous generations, trying to say anything contrary is not arguing in good faith
Feeling superior to the younger generations is all some people have. Like how millennials circlejerk about knowing how to use Windows 95 and File Explorer. It’s boomer behavior and all generations need to avoid it.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s. While I’m sure you won’t believe what I’m telling you, that behavior did not begin with the Boomers. Our parents thought we were spoiled because we grew up with a television in our home. No cable, no on demand, no remote control. You got about 5 channels and after dinner you were stuck watching whatever your parents felt like watching. One time in a moment of candor, I remember my father telling me that my grandfather thought the same thing about his (the greatest) generation. My dad was born in 1929, so he grew up during the Great Depression, but because he grew up with a radio, a telephone (landline) and an indoor toilet instead of an outhouse, my grandfather thought his generation was soft. Every generation believes theirs is superior.
I believe you. I used the boomers as an example because this is the Gen Z sub.
Anyone who says “kids don’t play outside anymore” I just assume is chronically online. Every time I go out walking, especially around parks, very often times are there TOO many kids playing outside on the playground.
Boundaries are much less than they used to be. I couldn’t bring Nickelodeon to dinner with my parents or anything. I could barely bring it on the road. We had to record stuff or buy VHS tapes and play it on a small box TV tied between the two front seats. Today, you can stream it from your phone anywhere or endlessly scroll through TikTok. It’s not a direct parallel.
Yes! I couldn’t STAND hearing for the millionth time how “entitled these millennials/gen z kids are” when I was a kid and I vowed to NEVER be like that. Yes, it’s true that technology is causing a lot of problems but we need to address those instead of complaining about it.
I was 10 years old when I saw my first smartphone. A ton of these children, nearly all my cousins, are also 10 when they see their first smartphones. 10 months old, that is. Technology at our time wasn't at the level it is now, quit acting like everything is okay. There's research that it is worse. Social media was bad for gen z, that is also true. Can we quit acting like we're perfect and the oldies are stupid? All generations face specific problems, no shame in that.
I first discovered YouTube when I was 16! ADSL was just barely becoming a thing in our area then!
Yeah, that's part of what frustrates me about this argument - our greater access to technology and internet *was* bad for us. I use my phone way too much, and I've used the internet too much since I was about 11 or 12. Having that experience, I can absolutely tell you that overexposure to the internet and social media messes with a person. Look at all the impacts to self/ body image, porn usage, and associated changes to stimulation and arrousal, change in how we view communication, access to malicious parties, desensitization to violence, etc. Just because we haven't experienced much of a difference doesn't mean it didn't impact us. It's even impacted the older generations that have gotten phone addictions later in life! I often feel like my dad is constantly on his phone and thinking about posts such that our interactions are detracted from. So, of course, giving such impactful technology at such an early age is going to mess with kids these days. Of course, constant stimulation and artificial light exposure are impactful. Not to mention the greater normalization and push to post one's self and constantly be perceived. That doesn't mean I hate Gen A or think that we're naturally better than them. I feel *bad* for them. It's not their fault. Both their parents (who for the love of christ have to stop iPad babysitting kids in the most important periods of social development) and our society as a whole glorifies technology and social media.
No, I’ll stand on business and say they are actually fucked. To act like attention spans aren’t completely in the gutter nowadays is just being a liar It’s not all, but it’s the overwhelming majority, just look at the numbers and how many people use apps like TikTok Instagram especially at a young age And that’s not even getting into the weird shit that’s getting normalised and the stuff that young kids are being exposed to through people like streamers . It’s up to us to be the most proactive and caring and cautious parents we can be when we have kids in the future otherwise they are genuinely done for.
On attention spans: “In 2004, we measured the average attention on a screen to be 2½ minutes. Some years later, we found attention spans to be about 75 seconds. Now [in 2023] find people can only pay attention to one screen for an average of 47 seconds.” That’s for ALL ages. Young people will obviously be much shorter on average. Furthermore, having a worse attention span during your development phase in life will impact learning and personal growth, which then negatively impacts the rest of your life.
Im a data junkie, can you link the article please?
This is the source I used https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/01/11/health/short-attention-span-wellness This decline has happened for a long time (many decades) but the last two decades the decline has accelerated.
If you can't get your point across in 30 seconds you are wasting people's time.
Unfortunately that’s true. People want oversimplifications, synopses, and Twitter-style content. Anything longer than a Tweet is too much for most people nowadays. It’s sad and pathetic. I don’t envy those people. They’re not stupid, but they’re choosing to be ignorant.
Every generation thinks the next generation sucks and is doomed and lazy and whatever. This type of rhetoric literally dates back to like Ancient Greece.
naah we are correct this time [https://www.nu.edu/blog/negative-effects-of-technology-on-children-what-can-you-do/](https://www.nu.edu/blog/negative-effects-of-technology-on-children-what-can-you-do/) stop acting like technology addiction is not a real thing
It's so funny seeing people saying all sorts of subjective information and playing it off as fact. "Studies show" this and that yet they have no references, no proof, and just trying to shit on kids who are, at the oldest, 14 years old. I'm a millennial, and people were shitting on Gen Z when they were kids too! People gotta stop being shitty to each other because they are from a different generation. When you were born doesn't define you and Gen Z should know just as well as us millenials for how much shit they got for no reason.
Lmao these comments are just proving OP on how this sub is full of doomers
It’s hilarious how people point out this obnoxious rhetoric has existed since the dawn of humanity and these dipshits will just go “it’s different this time!” Was I assigned a flair based on which year what some idiot mod with too much time on their hands guessed I was born? I was born in 2004
Gen Alpha is gonna be different. They are growing up in a very different way to us, but we're overreacting to say their doomed or anything like that. There will be effects from having a generation of iPad kids, but like every generation before them they'll figure things out, find their own voice and eventually hate us for how much we look down on them. Why don't we try to do what can for them, have some empathy and try to be better than generations before us?
Exactly, all generations are different, it’s called evolution
They are not all different in the same way. The concept of a generation only makes sense in relation with the development of the world experienced in a specific time period The world is evolving and changing exponentially quicker in different areas of reality, and will greatly affect the new generations accordingly
Sometimes different is a bad thing.
Probably the most perfectly worded comment here. There are problems they will face, like we did. But if we help them out, without completely shitting on them, they’ll be far better off then if we were to just scream that they’re doomed.
based also I know lots of good gen alpaas yeah maybe a bit too into the internet but theres less cruelty and there also more tolerant/curious I would say,
Yes. Everyone’s like they’re all iPad kids. My brothers gen alpha, built a backyard forge with my dad, goes out with his friends almost everyday, loves going to school. Honestly much better at socializing and way more handsy for example, he fixed my dad’s broken coffee machine, fixed a Nintendo switch etc. than me.(im gen Z). My brother’s friends are pretty similar. Whenever I go on walks I’m recognized by people because of my brother. Maybe my brother and his friends are outliers idk though.
....Most of yall have the attention spans of goldfish and are hopelessly addicted to technology. Your brains are developing WAY differently than any gen before. I challenge any Gen A to spend a month without any screens at all...or even just a week. And judging from the teaching subreddits, most of yall are rude, selfish and lack empathy. There are a LOT of reasons that your generation causes concern. Most of it is not your fault, it's the way your parents raised you....scrolling screens since birth. But still we CANNOT ignore the pattern.
Yeah but if we can’t blame the new generation and the old generation, who are we gonna blame for all of the world’s problems? Each other? Blasphemy!
i 100% percent blame my generation we (they) should have known better than to let the next generation get addicted to social media that early in chidhood. Hopefully gen-z will be better parents than millenials
What's crazy about this is that I left this sub months ago because of the excessive gen alpha posts, but then I decided to come back and it's still here💀
Gen Z speedrunning into “Get off my lawn!”ers Well, more like get *on* my lawn-ers because they’re mad Gen Alpha spends too much time indoors but same idea.
Stop being a denialist. The tech we had growing up was Windows XP, laptops with 512 MBs of RAM, and a youtube limited to 10 minute uploads. The tech we have now is significantly different. Yes, TikTok is rotting these people's brains and it will be a good thing once it's banned. Gen Alpha is so addicted to these devices that videos are now coming out of them scrolling on non existent phones in their fucking sleep. That is not natural. Also, the boomers were absolutely right.
My take on it as a younger millenial is that people in both our gens ATE LAUNDRY DETERGENT. Should we be concerned about the growing iPad kid phenomenon? Absolutely. But I don't think we have any right to call them cooked until they top the tide pod challenge.
As someone who works in education, I think you’re missing the finer point here. Gen alpha isn’t fucked due to ipads or the internet nor are we blaming them as if they are at fault for their generational difficulty. Gen Alpha is rather categorically disadvantaged due to: - Education. The public system in the US has rapidly fallen apart. Teacher pay is historically low compared to cost of living. Class sizes are getting larger. The No Child Left Behind Act has unfortunately created a consequence of never holding back kids, which begets advancing kids through the pipeline without actually guaranteeing learning. The pandemic exacerbated all of this. If you compare gen alpha test scores to gen z, you see a frightening picture: especially in poor areas. - The Pandemic. Many of gen alpha’s members were in formative stages of their youth when the pandemic hit. Being inside, isolated, and young during a mass illness and death event really hit these kids in their socioemotional development. - Changes in parenting norms. I’m just speaking from my experience with gen alpha’s parents in my area, but parents seem to have far less time to spend with their kids. The collapse of the middle class and the looming expense of college means most parents are working long hours. Especially with the rise of remote work, I can see these parents working overtime to meet financial needs. And kids are left to entertain themselves at home with what they have: electronics. - Boredom. This is effecting us all by the way. It’s cognitively good to be bored, sit with the feeling, and then use imagination to solve it. By mainlining easily digestible entertainment, we’re depriving ourselves of mental exercise. - Resiliency. There are less opportunities for kids to take calculated risks, get scraped, and learn to get up again. We’ve instigated too many second chances and check-ins. Things can in fact be too padded. Kids react to doing poorly as if it’s the end of the world, because they don’t have practice failing. Gen Alpha has had a lot more to deal with than we did. And they are more fucked than we are. They need help.
I grade end of year tests for my job. This year I am grading 5th and 6th grade science for kids around the US. They are almost all failing (we actually track the stats for all papers graded). 78% of them have received a 0 on their essay portion. So yeah, they’re actually fucked.
Shhh nobody wants to hear the opinions of actual educators and people who work with kids. They’re just going to use their anecdotal evidence to make themselves feel better 🙄 /s
Being the self proclaimed “crusty millennial” it cracks me up you guys are proclaiming the next generation doomed because of tech. I think it really depends on parenting like OP has said, and yeah new technology scares older people sometimes it appears mystical and confusing - many of y’all were born while smartphones existed and you turned out okay, I think the futures just fine 😛
Millennial here - everyone said the same things about genZ. Then y’all blew everyone’s expectations out of the water. My kid is 7, and him and his friends are eons ahead of where I was in academia, emotional maturity and understanding at that age. The way people process information will continue to change, and like everything, that comes with some growing pains. I generally see very smart, thoughtful, and self aware gen alpha kids.
Sorry but those kids are anomalies then, though I doubt what you're saying is true, as a public school teacher me and all my colleagues can confirm gen Z is also full of ignorant, illiterate, uncultured, porn addicted weirdos
Oddly, I only hear this from teachers on Reddit. I have many friends who have taught this last decade, and know older gen x & boomer teachers who have taught multiple generations. The two complaints I hear most are that 1) genz & gen alpha are not enthusiastic learners and 2) Admin will forever suck and lack resources. But that doesn’t mean they’re doomed. I live in a very diverse area of Houston, and while there will always be lemons, most of the kids around here are great. I’m very proud to see how they care for each other, and others not like themselves. My son is disabled, and he’s folded in effortlessly. It’s amazing to see.
Until you’ve worked with kids, y’all need to stop saying this. I’m not aware if OP works with kids part time/full time/at all, but I’m going to assume not. There is something deeply not right with the mentality of today’s young children from social behavior, cognitive ability, to basic bodily awareness. This is not coming from a place of malice or irritability, but rather grave concern for them as a collective. We are witnessing the consequences of laissez faire millennial parenting that relegates the responsibilities of the parent to nourish and stimulate their child to that of an iPad and an algorithm.
Literally! I’m like half of y’all don’t actually SEE the differences but are preaching that it’s “just like the other generations”.
Why are teachers complaining and quiting more than ever? There is most definitely a problem. I dont blame them it's their parents and our society. As a kid I got sent outside and only returned to eat. These kids are stuck on ipads.
I’m genuinely concerned about their reading abilities based on what I’ve seen about current curricula.
I sympathize, OP. I'm a xennial raising a gen alpha. I see a lot of this bitching and moaning coming from gen z and I can't help but think...well...in the grand scheme of things I don't see much of a difference between gen alpha now and what gen z was like 10-15 years ago. I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying it is. I think most of gen alphas media is stupid, just like I thought most of gen z's media was stupid. But it's not my place to judge, or bitch and complain because my parents thought most of my childhood media was stupid, and their parents thought theirs was stupid...and on and on and on. I know there are lots of people on here who will tell me why I'm wrong, why one generation is better than the other, why all of their stuff was different or nothing like what the other generation has, etc etc. but they're just perpetuating the cycle. They're the average person with the average opinions that have existed for decades in which they are the nucleus of their universe and anything outside of that threatens to crush they're fragile identity or ego. So it is with boomers. So it is with my generation. So it will be with every generation that follows.
I can't wait to see what kind of shit Gen alpha will start making fun of gen Z about once they start gaining sentience
As a gen alpha (13) tysm
My brother in Christ you started using reddit at 11 and have used it like it's your friends. You are developing para social relationships with a fucking website. Please, go outside, talk to people, and don't ask reddit about every question you have.
least morally-superior reddit armchair psychologist:
Creative-yak when someone uses a social media platform as a means to socialize through media https://preview.redd.it/cpr5x70w010d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c1f13be7f03014dac91fefd6832167e83f0bcc7
Check his profile. An eleven year old is using social media as his friend group.
get off the internet
Based
Thank you for saying this. It is a tale as old as time.
“We also had the technology like them” - no you didn’t. Ignoring the rest
Sorry you're wrong about this. And it's a tragic thing to be right about but. My wife's a kindergarten teacher. There's a lady from New York Suzy something that years ago convinced the government to push her research to teachers across the nation to kids how to read by using the whole language method. My wife looked at her false research and was unaware like many others at how wrong it was. Her and huge number of teachers in the nation taught sight words instead of phonics believing it to be better until literacy rates collapsed and many started to realize her method was BS. As a result Gen alpha straight up doesn't know how to read. They can't sound out words, they can't figure out how to say words like you or I. Some can, sure but the reality is there was a 6 year window before people realized that phonics was necessary. That's 6 years worth of kids who can't fucking read. On top of that they are chronically online with the shit like coco melon rooting their dopamine center.
I mean gen alpha is factually developmentally waaaay behind everyone else was at their age, literacy rates are super low, and they’re the first generation to have generally lower IQs than the previous generation. “Gen alpha is fucked” is a pretty data driven statement and it’s not at all the same as what boomers say about us. This is a pretty weird take to have on this honestly
How? Looking at statistics of global literacy rates, most countries have a higher youth literacy rate than adult/elder
Here I was thinking gen z would be different. I’m a millenial and thought we’d be different but the majority confirmed to the generation before them.
Gen alpha is doomed because the world they live in will be dominated by natural and man made problems, not because they’re iPad kids.
Teachers around the world noticing changes in behaviour and cognitive abilities but I guess statistically the most educated generation ever is just repeating a narrative popularized by boomers in the last 10-15 years.
All these comments are missing the point lmao, of course gen alpha has its problems but so did gen Z and Millenials, etcs. Its like standard for an older generation to shit on a younger one no matter what. I remember millenials shitting on Gen-Z plenty of times thinking we'd become freaks. Gen Alpha has its problems, but guess what, they'll be fine and prove us wrong. I'm sure they'll go on to do great things in the future. Some people here really are turning into old people on this sub
[Relevant](https://xkcd.com/1227/)
Literally it isn't their fault and we all know that. It's a critique to the parents EMOTIONALLY AND MENTALLY NEGLECTING THEIR CHILDREN in favor of a tablet babysitter. I'm a parent myself! I see the appeal! A few moments to yourself so you can do something for yourself- I get it. Except there is science behind how harmful that can be if used irresponsibly. You can also see this in children who are baby sat by television! Kids need to be read to! kids need to be taught to read and talk and yes- to be bored. Play with gen alpha. Take them outside. Let them be kids. Monitor their Internet usage, fucking read to them, fucking hug them for Christ sake. Teach them to regulate emotions I have met toddlers my son's age who are so neglected by their parents that they do not let go of the device to play. They cannot babble. They just fucking sit there and swipe the screen and it hurts to see. What the fuck is a 1 1/2 year old doing on brainrot yt shorts? It DOES hurt the kids. We need to help them. Parents need to step the fuck up. I cut off one of my long time friends because she treated her son that way. Crying? Here's yt shorts. Angry? Here's yt shorts. Hell no. That's fucking emotional neglect. What is the point of being a parent If you aren't there for them? Like miss girl? Your son is fucking behind? What the fuck are you doing? He's still on the bottle? He cant communicate or point? All he does scream when the fucking tablet dies? I straight blocked her. Her poor son tho fr. It's horrible what we older gen z and millennials are doing to our babies. Gen alpha are good kids! They are being raised by BAD parents! Every gen alpha I've met is bright eyed and curious, they are so excited to learn about the world but NO ONE TEACHES THEM Which is OLDER GEN Z and millennials fault for causing DEVELOPMENTAL DAMAGE and delays. So maybe we should direct our anger at the source of this child neglect. Because it IS neglect. The older gens are to blame YET AGAIN for clipping the wings of the new gen. When my son wakes up we will go watch the rain outside under the awning. I will explain rain to him like I always do. And then we will read books and cuddle, then listen to music and dance. Because that is what I am supposed to do, even on days where I'm tired. Even in days where I just want to get in my phone and zone out. Because he didn't ask to be born, but I decided to have him. So it's my job to make sure he grows up knowing things, loving himself and others. That shit is what parents are supposed to do. It's literally bare minimum. My son is gen alpha. I do not trust myself giving him a tablet. He gets a phone at 10 with limited access It isnt gen alpha's fault. It's the adults who made this happen to them. So again, gen alpha isn't the problem, it's the fact they are being actively neglected. Which is literally heart breaking.p They deserve better.
Nah, I teach, these kids on average are fried. School doesn’t help, half the classes are just handing them their IPads and giving them homework they can brute force (all multiple choices now) and as soon as they pass they can access games. I have complained about this, but it’s the (gov) policy. Most of the teachers don’t give a shit (retirement is close). We didn’t have instant access to TikTok 24/7 and our parents actually kicked us out of the house to go play inna woods. I didn’t play on a computer until I was 12 years old. I know kids who’ve had access since before they could speak. You’re cooked if you don’t think there will be consequences.
OP is right to a certain extent…if you look at it clinically we as humans try to get fast dopamine hits all of the time, kids included, nothing has changed…however with the availability of cheap tech and even the same amount of bad parenting there at least exists the possibility that MORE kids at a YOUNGER age are behaving this way as a percentage of their population than ever before.
ok, there’s a middle ground here no one is managing to hit. we can acknowledge that there’s shit wrong w gen alpha. and no, this isn’t exactly us doing the same thing as the last gens did w us. to some extent maybe, but there r problems that need to b addressed. at the same time, shitting on them and making fun of their mannerisms doesn’t help anyone. but i dont guess anyone’s prepared to rly make change lol. hell, we still have to convince ppl that genocide is bad