Should we be concerned for this next generation after seeing the way they act?

With the new found age of TikTok, I see many young adults like me feeling worried for the new generation of young adults. This new generation isn’t Gen Z (the focus of most hate); this generation is called Gen Alpha (people who were born in 2010 and later). Most of this generation was raised by the Millennials and late Gen Z, during the digital age, where instead of buying Barbies and letting their children watch cartoons all day, the generation of parents just throw an iPad at the kid’s faces where they are exposed to an entire new online world.

These young kids are opened to the internet at a young age being exposed to influencers on YouTube. This causes them to start to idolize them, slowly start to buy any product they are seen with, or even try to become them.

I think with the new face of TikTok, many young kids see their favorite creators do things and try things that they’re not supposed to do until they get older. This definitely isn’t the kids fault but more so the parents, as I’ve seen this new generation of parents has become lazy with parenting, and don’t regulate what their kids are watching on social media. Parents nowadays are just throwing an iPad at the kids face and calling it parenting. Most of these parents also just resort to yelling when their kids get in trouble instead of showing their kids the proper way on how to do something.

One of the biggest problems in this new generation of parents has to do with the fact that many of these parents are also addicted to the internet, and most spend their whole life on the internet, to the point that they don’t see anything wrong with it. So giving their kids an iPad and not having it regulated isn’t that big of a deal because when they were young, their parents did the same thing.

The parents of the Millennials and late Gen Z didn’t grow up with the internet, with many of them starting to use the internet in their late 20s or early 30s. Most of those parents did not know how the internet works or what’s on it which is why they let their kids play outside and watch cartoons for the most part. Millennials and late Gen Z grew up in a generation where as a kid they didn’t have to worry about Instagram posts, TikTok trends and YouTube challenges. Their worries were school and their Barbie dolls.

As I grow up I often miss that feeling of not caring, as I find myself worrying about many things now that I’m older, and I still often do many of the things I did as a child, to regain that spark I got back then. I still watch Cartoons, buy toys, and still get a happy meal at McDonalds for the cute box.

I feel like I grew up too quickly as I always wanted to be older, but now that I’m older I feel jealous of those younger than me as I’m scared of growing up, and I feel like that’s what’s going to happen to this new generation. Most of Gen Alpha aren’t even 13 years old yet they are already shopping in the women’s section, are scoring the halls of Sephora, and are already wearing full faces of makeup and skincare. Many of these children already look like mini adults.

There used to be this TikTok trend showing how 5th graders look and act like in today’s generation, and then show how the past generation. You can see the change in their clothes: you see the past 5th graders had My little Pony shirts and Justice matching sets, now we see 5th graders in short dresses and crop tops.

This mostly stems from parents and gardens giving their children too much independence, as they don’t have anyone to guide them or to put them in their place. These children start acting up and think they are older than they actually are, because they have so much freedom in their life. They think many of the young things that we found cool aren’t seen as cool anymore.

Rainbow loom and doing those stupid DIYs you’d find on YouTube as a kid are now being overthrown by 10-13 year old’s “Get ready with me” videos. As they use a full face of skincare that is harmful for their face as the chemicals in them are too strong, they are seen as the new fun of this generation.

I feel like later in life many of these Gen Alpha kids who grow up too fast are going to regret it and fall under the same habits that we are doing. Our generation is doing things to feel young again, like putting bows everywhere, buying cute toys, and watching cartoons, while Gen Alpha slaps their faces with chemicals and a full face of makeup, barely being 13, most of them are coming out of the house already looking 20.

Kids shouldn’t be running around Sephora or scrolling through TikTok, they should be running around the park, playing pretend house with other kids. I feel like if we don’t inform this generation, they’ll regret acting older then they were.