How will Gen Alpha interact with tech compared to Gen Z, and what does this mean for brands?

As the millennial mother of a 4-year-old, I think my daughter is going to have a very different relationship to technology from previous generations. She is part of Generation Alpha, the cohort born between 2010 and 2025, and their approach to digital is going to come as a something of a shock to the social media giants.

Having founded a marketing agency, I’m only too aware of the downsides of social media. I’m going to be strict with my daughter when it comes to her social media usage and access to technology. Like others of my generation, I’ve seen the impact of connectivity and I know enough about the dangers to pass a warning on to the next generation.

A study from McKinsey has found that Gen Z – those born between 1995 and 2010 – have had their mental health damaged by spending too much time on social platforms. Surprise, surprise. One in four GenZers associate spending time on social apps with poor mental health. This cohort are the heaviest users of social media and one in five female GenZers report suffering from poor mental health. I, like many other parents today, am not going to let that happen to my children.

Many tech executives claim they actually discourage their children from using social media or limit their screen time. I think this will become the default for many millennial parents.

The problem for Gen Z kids is that they have mainly been raised by late boomers and Gen X, who have adopted digital technologies as adults and don’t fully grasp the dangers. Many negative aspects of social media such as dependency, ‘doom scrolling’ and using it as a substitute for real life human relationships, have blossomed among Gen Z. They have had unlimited access to the drug of social media. But they haven’t been educated about its harmful effects or had limitations imposed on their usage by their parents. Gen X parents have fallen for the ‘but everyone else is on X’ line from their children in a way parents of my generation would not.

I’m no luddite. I will of course let my daughter use the internet, but only for content that is meaningful and which is consumed for a positive reason – and that includes entertainment. But I’ll be limiting screen time and prioritising offline activities. I’m hyper aware of the negativity that can result from social media, such as extreme content and warped perceptions on everything from beauty standards to news events. I will take steps to avoid her seeing negative content.

Previous generations just weren’t equipped to do this in the way we millennials are. I doubt there are many people my age who didn’t find ways of circumnavigating a parental control filter with tricks our parents wouldn’t have understood.

I expect Gen Alpha will have a more modest relationship with social media than Gen Z, reversing the trend for each new generational cohort to become progressively more closely engaged with technology. ?

So where does that leave brands? I think there’s going to be a resurgence in the use of ‘traditional’ media formats in the next 20 years to reach generation Alpha, particularly out of home advertising. As part of trying to get my daughter out and about and to take the world in without a screen, I’m going to accidentally make her more susceptible to consuming billboard advertising wherever we are.

Marketers should pay heed to this and really consider long term brand building effects and where to put them. For my generation, TV advertising was crucial for brand building, but with the changing ways in which we interact with televisual media, Gen Alpha isn’t going to be found there so easily.

Brands should start thinking long term again. Gen Alpha’s relationship with technology is certain to be very different from previous cohorts. Government regulation is likely to become more effective as our leaders get younger and more attuned with the digital world and so highly targeted digital marketing isn’t a safe bet. Brands need to reconsider long term brand building, see what worked in the past and apply similar practices to the environments Gen Alpha are going to occupy. We need to look backwards to look forwards.