"My Gen Alpha daughter was born in 2016, but sometimes it feels like she's growing up in a different universe entirely. Her world is one where Roblox trends spill straight into our living room and where her understanding of "aesthetic" comes less from glossy magazines and more from avatar outfits. She'll discover a new style- preppy, coquette, baddie-while running around Obbys or shopping virtual boutiques, and somehow by the end of the week those trends have migrated into her real-life wardrobe debates."
"When she's not in Roblox, she's streaming vintage episodes of "Jessie" and "Hannah Montana" on Disney+, devouring "Is It Cake?" on Netflix, or giggling at Snapchat filters with me and my husband. She never posts anything. It's not about the social feed for her (yet.). Right now, she's simply watching herself become a pirate, a puppy, a talking pickle, a dozen times in a row on the social media app geared towards Gen Z."
"This is childhood now. Screen-mediated. Algorithm-shaped. Seamlessly hybrid. And for parents, especially elder millennial parents like me and some gen-X'ers who had kids a little later in life, raising kids inside the very technology we once treated as optional. It requires a new understanding of what screen time even means. You are reading the anchor story in SheKnows' new Born Connected, Gen Alpha and Screen Time series."
Gen Alpha children, born 2013–2024, are the first generation raised from infancy with algorithmic feeds, streaming platforms, and smart devices embedded in daily life. Virtual spaces like Roblox shape aesthetics, play, and clothing choices, while streaming and social apps provide repeated, identity-play experiences. Many young children consume filtered, avatar-based media without posting publicly, prioritizing watching and experimenting over curating feeds. For parents, especially older millennials and some Gen Xers, caregiving now occurs inside normalized digital ecosystems originally seen as optional. Parenting requires rethinking screen time and understanding platforms' influence on social-emotional development and attention.
Read at SheKnows
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