We were just getting used to the new generation Z and it’s already being replaced! The people that were born after 2010 are the so-called alpha (A), or generation A. This name supposes that the list of generations has come to an end and that humanity is starting a new alphabet. These children have a unique intelligence, and even demography experts don’t understand what these alphas will grow up to be and what their value will be to humanity. Maybe they will grow up along with a boom in artificial intelligence. It is too early to jump to any certain conclusions, but we can at least try to understand what kind of generation is going to replace generation Z.
We at ViralSection got really curious about which special traits generation A children will have. And after we reviewed a ton of information, we realized that they might just be the most unusual children in history.
1. Generation A values personalization and an individual approach.
© annapavaga / instagram
Every generation has its own special traits. So, demography experts believe that Millennials are special because they are obsessed with self-expression, and generation Z because they are all about tolerance. When it comes to generation A, they have been using all sorts of devices since they were babies, this is why they learn to use YouTube before they learn to read and write. So, it is not surprising that these children learn to choose what to watch online and how, this is why freedom of choice and personalization are very important for them. The people of the new generation know that they have their own accounts on social media, where they can shape their own individual feeds based on their preferences. They are used to the fact that there is a smart algorithm that can make a list of cartoons and music based on what they’ve watched and listened to before.
On top of that, consider the fact that about 90% of modern children can already use tablets by the age of 2 and 1 in 5 children has their own device at the age of 3. So, we are certain that by the time the people of generation A grow up, they will live in a special community where everything will be adapted to their needs.
2. They don’t differentiate the real world from virtual reality.
© The Lion King / Walt Disney Pictures
For children that were born in the digital era, the virtual and the real world are almost the same. They can easily travel from one to another, because they are used to the fact that the picture on the screen is more and more similar to what they see in their real lives. Today, for children, there is not a lot of difference in how they learn new information — in real life or through a smartphone screen. Virtual reality, for them, is just as important, so generation A is not very worried about how they look on the screen.
Many modern children have had their own vlogs from early childhood and they have been sharing the things that happen to them every day with people all around the world. And they don’t do anything to make their lives look better than they are. The blogger Pat04Chek posts different videos about his life and tells his audience about everyday things. For Gen A children, it is important to share their good and bad emotions, not only with their friends and family, but also with people they don’t know at all.
3. They have better relationships with their parents.
Today, the principle of conscious parenting is very popular. It’s about the adults feeling extremely responsible for their children’s lives and trying to spend as much time with them as possible. According to information from The New York Times, modern parents spend about 3 times more time with their children compared to the 1970s. When they communicate with their children, they try to talk to them more. Also, because children are often more advanced with technology, parents listen to their children’s advice. This has a very positive influence on their relationship.
Besides, generation A has a lot in common with their parents, because they have similar preferences. They might play online games together or maybe they create blogs together. Young parents are okay with admitting that they are less competent when it comes to some questions. This makes adults and children more equal, so the adults don’t dominate anymore. Research shows that it is the habit of doing something together that makes families stronger.
4. They have high moral standards and they can detect deception almost immediately.
Generation A values a more transparent world that doesn’t have any secrets or deceptions. A very important thing for them is reputation. If a person, who is important to them, lies to them or isn’t open enough, they will sense that and will have a hard time forgiving this mistake. In the world of social media, everything is open, you can’t hide behind masks anymore because sooner or later, all the secrets will be revealed. In some schools, there are even special lessons about how to tell facts from fakes.
Also, modern children have very high moral standards. Since their early childhood, they are told that it is important to take care of the environment, to not let animals go extinct, to recycle their trash, and they learn the ideas behind conscious consumption. They try to follow these high standards and they make sure everyone else follows suit.
5. They can’t concentrate on one thing for a long time.
© Alonso Mateo / facebook
This young generation has serious problems with long-term concentration. They consume information for about 10 hours a day, so their brain has to do something to rest. In their world, text is displaced by images, and the average time of concentration for them on one post has shrunk to one second, even though generation Z can concentrate for about 8 seconds.
Today, one second is enough time for a person to understand what is interesting to them and what is not. This is why generation A has very well-developed critical thinking: they just don’t have any time to waste on unimportant or unattractive things.
6. About 40% of children won’t get a college degree.
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According to some predictions, by the year 2030, 67 professions will have disappeared. Yes, there will be new ones, but at this point, nobody knows what they will be. The world is changing so rapidly that nobody has any idea what kinds of marketable skills they will need to learn to be sought after as an employee. It is very likely that generation A will have to make instinctive guesses about the skills they’ll need to have to be successful in the future. Under these circumstances, it is a very strange idea to spend 5 years on a college degree, which is very likely to become redundant. The new generation is going to have to acquire new skills and change their jobs very fast, because their income will depend on how well they understand the situation and adapt to the conditions. According to some experts, generation A children will change about 5 fields and 20 employers, over the course of their lives. And the new generation will be pretty intelligent, thanks to self-education.
Besides, remote jobs will only continue to be more and more popular. Now, 1/3 of US employees are freelancers and by the year 2025, according to some experts, 50% of employees in the west will not be working for one single company.
7. Generation A will live long lives. Maybe, 100 years on average.
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Because medicine is developing extremely fast in the modern world, and the quality of life is improving year by year, modern children can live up to 100 years, or even longer. For example, according to the experts at Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, 1 in 3 girls that were born in Germany in 2019 will be able to celebrate their 100th birthday.
And in general, children that are born in the more well-developed countries, are supposed to become the healthiest and the longest-living generation. This is why it is so important to develop an appreciation for good health from the earliest age possible.
8. They’re going to have to develop their emotional intelligence.
Nowadays, more and more scientists are talking about artificial intelligence, which is developing so rapidly, it’s very likely that we are going to have to compete with it. And the only way to compete with robots is to develop emotional intelligence (EI) because this is something that is inaccessible for machines. EI encompasses a certain number of skills that allow us to understand other people’s emotions and intentions, and also control our own in order to solve practical tasks.
Many employers are convinced that in order to build a successful career, a child is going to need to have 3 essential skills — the ability to adapt, to find and process information, and to communicate with any person. This is why emotional intelligence is so important. Today, in order to be on Elon Musk’s team, you need to play a special online game. In this game, artificial intelligence creates different tasks, for example, it asks people to figure out what emotion a person in a photo is experiencing. Then, the results are analyzed and sent to the potential employer.
9. They will be the driving force behind progress.
The leading demography experts agree that it is the modern children that will popularize the humanistic mission and push the progress. Generation A is more stable and less aggressive than its predecessors. They are against any kind of formalities. In fact, there is a tendency that every new generation is freer from all kinds of stereotypes than the previous one. Besides, generation A will be quite well-informed, because their education will start from a very early age and will continue throughout their entire lives.
Finally, thanks to the development of the internet, all the possible borders, be it political or cultural, will be wiped out even more. This is why generation A will be more focused on building a global world that will be more flexible and more socially responsible, where people will pay more attention to important problems like terrorism, ecology, and the exhaustion of resources.
Do you have any experience communicating with these modern children? How different do you think they are from the previous generations?
Preview photo credit аnnapavaga / instagram
