Caitlin, a camp counselor and special education teaching assistant with hands-on experience working directly with Gen Alpha offers an insightful look into the unique characteristics of this generation. In my first “Raising Gen Alpha” piece, Caitlin reflects on her experiences with young students, highlighting the profound impact of technology and media on their development. From navigating the digital landscape and its influence on play to addressing concerns about media literacy and internet safety, Caitlin provides a valuable perspective on the challenges and opportunities of raising the newest generation. Her observations underscore the need for thoughtful approaches to support and understand Gen Alpha in a rapidly evolving world.
1. Could you tell me a little bit about your current job and how you came to be employed there?
I was working as a special education teaching assistant in an elementary school. I [found] the job online. The most education needed was a high school diploma and some experience working with children, so I applied. For the past two months, I’ve been working with one specific autistic student in a first grade general classroom setting, but I’ve also helped out with other autistic students.
2. You also mentioned you used to work as a camp counselor. Could you tell me a bit about that experience?
I’ve worked in camps and after school programs with my local community college from about 2016 to 2018, and then I returned last summer (2023). I was a teenager during my first bout of camps, and I could connect to the kids way easier then. 2016 to 2018 was definitely the last bit of Gen Z. I had to have so much explained to me when I returned for Gen Alpha. I had no idea what ‘skibbidi toilet‘ was or the whole lore with it and TV man. I’m still not 100% sure.
3. How do you feel your childhood differs from this new generation?
The technology usage and the type of media they consume is definitely different; which is something I can even say about younger Gen Z as a self-proclaimed Zillenial. I’ve worked with ages 5 to 13. Up until the fifth grade, my family had a desktop that ran Windows XP and I only used Microsoft Paint, Solitaire, and an educational CD-rom akin to today’s ABC Mouse. If I watched anything, it was on TV and from the four available kids channels. Now, these kids have iPads of their own that their parents kind of monitor. I also read a lot or went outside. I don’t think a lot of these kids are reading or going outside as much because the iPad is at their disposal.
4. What unique attributes have you observed in working with Gen Alpha?
Their play is heavily centered around the media they consume. It’s more Youtube if anything. I’ve said “Hey, what’s up guys” to a group of children and one of them asked why I sounded like a Youtuber. I’ve seen a kid pretend to be a Prime seller, which was wild to me. I’ve seen children play “Mr. Beast,” if that’s even possible. I’ve heard quite a few kids catch themselves up on celebrity gossip. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing–I personally speak in memes and internet slang. However, when it comes to kids replicating what they see and experience through play, things have the potential to get dicey if their internet usage is not closely monitored.
5. While Gen Alpha is not the first digital native generation, they have grown up in a time where social media and AI are much more interwoven in our culture. How do you feel this has affected their development?
These kids are victims of capitalism! (I’m joking but also not joking.) I’ve noticed a trend of Gen Alpha influencers online and it’s concerning. Already there’s an issue with influencers and the perfection of social media affecting adults’ mental health, but exploiting children to reach this new, untapped demographic that hasn’t learned media literacy is disturbing. I think the whole child influencer thing started with family vlogging channels and those toy channels. With the elimination of online children spaces and the preteen phase–which is also a concern–this content has morphed to children trying to push skincare and cosmetics onto other kids. Not only do these children not understand the harm of putting acids on their skin, but they don’t understand that they don’t need to do that. They don’t need retinol or any product to prevent aging. What’s bad about aging? Do they know that they’re 9 years old and not 30? Also, ads in general are everywhere online. Growing up, the ads I saw were only when I was watching TV, which wasn’t all of the time. These ads were also catered to me, so I saw a lot of ads for toys. Now, especially since kids are online frequently, ads are everywhere. Social media has a good combination of advertisements and paid sponsor content being thrown at children, and not all of it is catered to them. This wave of kids needing Stanley cups is crazy to me. It’s cool that they’re hydrated, but the random water bottle you can get on field day does the same thing.
