translated from Spanish: What is the alpha generation, the first to be 100% digital

If we find that no one can know more about technology than what S ‘ Millennials ‘ and generation Z… We’re very wrong.
The time has come to welcome the Alpha generation, the first to be native to 100% digital.
What does it really mean to be a “millennial” and what are the myths and truths about this “lost generation”?
Making generational cuts is not an exact science.
However, according to an analysis of 2018 from the Pew Research Center, analyzing the generations offers “a way to understand how global events and technological, economic and social changes interact to define how the People see the world. ”
And it’s clear how the world sees the next generation: through a screen.
Who are you?
The children of the Alpha generation grew up with the example of their parents, always connected. After Generation Z, we ran out of the letters of the Latin alphabet, but do not worry: we still have all the Greek alphabet.
And the next generation, formed by the children of the millennials, is the alpha.
Are you overwhelmed by technology?: What is “technostress” and how to prevent it
“Before the generations were defined from important historical or social events. Today they are defined by the use of certain technology “, explains to BBC world the Uruguayan Roberto Balaguer, psychologist, teacher, writer and expert in the use-and abuse-of the social networks.
Joe Nellis, professor of global economics at the UK Cranfield Business School, agrees with him: “The alpha generation is made up of children born since 2010, the year that Apple first launched the iPad.”
The origins
The ‘ millennials ‘ are the parents of the children of the Alpha generation. After the ‘ Baby Boomers ‘ came the generation X (born between 1965 and 1979). They grew up hearing about electronic devices, but the technology is still something alien to them.
Then we had the generation Y, the famous ‘ millennials ‘ (born between 1980 and 1993), characterized by greater use and familiarity with communications, media and digital technologies.
And finally came the generation Z (born between 1994 and 2010). Its members use the Internet from a very young age and feel comfortable with technology and the digital world.
Why the generation of millennials depends on their parents to enrich themselves
However, none of these generations will be comparable at the digital level with the Alpha, who, as a counterpart, will be the first to be oblivious to many aspects of the analogue world.
Nellis explains that while the rest of the generations are still learning to adapt to a digital world, these children represent “the first digital generation.”
Balaguer, for its part, emphasizes that the concept of generation is becoming more and more shortened.
“What had been built and defined for 25 years now has been reduced to a decade. That accounts for the permanent changes that we are subjected to as a culture, “he says.
The children of the ‘ millennials ‘
Children of the Alpha generation will have trouble coping with analogue situations. According to expert estimates, more than 2.5 million Alpha’s are born around the world each week.
That means that for 2025, when the last members of this generation, according to the experts, could be more than 2 billion.
“The vast majority will be born in emerging markets and developing countries, and are likely to have better prospects than their parents and grandparents as they improve living standards in the coming years,” says Nellis.
Why everything we believe in “millenials” may be wrong
The alpha environment, starting with its parents, is constantly connected to mobile phones and the Internet.
So technology is an extension of your way of knowing the world.
“The Alfas are bred in families where the traditional parental roles are more blurred than decades ago, in which the tasks are shared as never before and in which the work-life balance is cared for as in any previous generation,” says Balaguer.
The future that awaits them
Technology is an extension of the way to know the world of Alpha Generation will the Alfas live better than their parents?
Professor Nellis thinks so.
“I believe that the Alpha generation will live better than their parents not only in terms of income but also in terms of quality of life understood as having more choice, more education opportunities, more care for others, etc.”
However, Balaguer is not so clear.
“They have had more attention than previous generations, more paternal presence, but also their lives are very much crossed by the ubiquitous technology and they have more extended parents outward, connected by default, and that clearly is a constraint for the Emotional availability and quality of care, “he says.
Why are the millennials doing better in marriage than their parents?
And he adds: “They are children who generally have less interaction through narrative histories and less language exchange, which causes more language pathologies than a decade ago, as well as increased incidence of eye disorders and deficit Attentional “.
If your main feature is your dominance of the digital world, will you have problems when faced with an analogue situation?
“The analogue world is increasingly less present in our lives. Parents want ‘ more mud and less screen ‘, but at the same time they spend a lot of time in front of their smartphones and model with their example, ‘ says Balaguer.
And adds: “Today this generation Alfa generates many dialogues in the groups of WhatsApp but has more domestic accidents than the previous generation, so many talk about a generation of distracted parents looking at their screens more than their babies or babies for Behind the screen. ”
As for Nellis, who believes that the environment will be a great concern for this new generation, the analogue incompetence of the Alfa worries rather little: “It will not be a problem, because the analogue situations are a minority.”

Original source in Spanish