From Z to α
Thoughts on the transition point between Generation Z and Generation Alpha
In the past few years, Generation Z has finally come into its own. All of the current college and high school age students are part of this cohort. But as the oldest members of Gen Z start having children of their own, it’s already time to start thinking about the next cohort: Generation Alpha.
Gen Alpha represents the very youngest members of society. They are the newborn babies, the rambunctious toddlers, and the 1st graders just learning to read. Unsurprisingly, we know very little about them—social scientists haven’t even agreed on a starting birth year yet.
At the beginning of 2019, Pew Research wrote that “no chronological endpoint” had been set for Gen Z—and, by extension, the beginning of Gen Alpha. But now, in 2023, I believe that the transition point can be seen.
I propose that the end of Gen Z and the beginning of Gen Alpha happened around 2016.
In general, generations are characterized by two things: historical events and technological development.
Both Gen Z and Gen Alpha are bounded by pivotal historical events. Pew Research considers Gen Z to begin in 1997, because one of the characteristics they identified is that members of Gen Z cannot remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.
Not only was 9/11 one of the most dramatic events in US history, it also caused significant changes inside the country, as security was increased almost everywhere, and outside the country, as two wars were launched in the wake of the attacks. Aside from the very oldest members of Gen Z, the entire generation was born while the US was at war in the Middle East. None of Gen Z knows what it was like to greet their loved ones at the gate inside an airport.
For Gen Alpha, people born from 2016 forward are unlikely to remember life before the Covid-19 pandemic. Gen Alpha will never know the time when it was socially unacceptable to wear masks everywhere, when snow days from school didn’t just mean online learning, and a world where “social distancing” isn’t part of the common vocabulary.
While almost all of the mandatory pandemic regulations have now been lifted, the deep social and cultural shift remains. And this change is not just restricted to the US; the world as a whole feels like a much more unstable place in the wake of Covid-19.
In the realm of technology, both Gen Z and Gen Alpha have seen monumental changes. Gen Z was the first generation to grow up entirely in the age of the internet. In the language of the social scientists, members of Gen Z are “digital natives.” Whether it’s posting on social media, talking on video calls, or streaming entertainment, Gen Z is entirely at home in cyberspace.
What is the technology that will define Gen Alpha? While Meta (Facebook) may have bet that virtual reality was the future, a much stronger candidate has emerged. In the fall of 2022, artificial intelligence went mainstream when OpenAI launched ChatGPT—the first functional generative AI to be available to the public. While programs like ChatGPT are still largely a novelty, AI is already promising to dramatically alter the world of computers and digital communication, just as the internet did decades ago. Gen Alpha will be the first generation in history to grow up with widespread artificial intelligence.
Of course, while Covid-19 and AI are strong indicators of a generational transition, it is important to remember that identifying generations is painting with the broadest of brushes. There is never a hard cut off between generations; the change is gradual. Just because a particular individual fits within certain birth years doesn’t mean they will display any of the stereotypical traits of their generation. The true characteristics of generations are usually not known until many years after the cohort reaches adulthood. But generational trends are still real and worth predicting.
So far, there does not seem to be any scientific or cultural consensus for the end of Gen Z and the beginning of Gen Alpha. Yet the research and cultural awareness of Gen Alpha is still young, so I believe it is only a matter of time before they will also settle near 2016 as the transition year. Gen Alpha is here, its members are growing quickly, and before we know it the first generation born entirely in the 21st century will have come into its own.
Judah Bruse is a graduate student from Rapid City, South Dakota. He received a BA in Humanities from John Witherspoon College and is currently studying for an MA in Government online at Regent University. You can follow his random thoughts on Twitter at @judahbruse