Alphas Have a Chance
In line with a national push to remove cell phones in schools and a national discussion about social media and its impact on teens and their health and development, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced plans to eliminate the use of phones in state public schools. The intention is to clamp down on the use of social media during school hours, and eliminating phones from schools has been one of the most instrumental policy changes of the past few years. While there is now peer-reviewed research suggesting that these phone bans alone do not improve grades or well-being, there is anecdotal evidence that eliminating social media and phones increases the level of happiness among students, lowers levels of anxiety, and helps diminish social isolation on campus. Altogether, phone bans improve classroom performance by minimizing distractions, and removing phones is, without a doubt, one of the most significant policy changes in years for younger Americans. But we can do more.
New and compelling data from the Springtide Research Institute – which surveyed over one thousand 13-year-olds, the oldest members of Generation Alpha - reveal that we have a chance to help promote healthy relationships in our nation’s Alpha Generation. What I take from these new data is that these young Americans are not yet addicted to technology, have not become deeply political, and happen to be in the midst of developing their sense of self. If our schools and communities can move quickly and responsibly to foster real relationships based on shared values, Alphas may be less lonely, more open-minded, and, as they grow up, able to be pragmatists in light of deep polarization.
Technology plays less of a role in the lives of Gen Alpha than it does for Gen Z. While many Gen Zers in college are unhealthily attached to their devices (82 percent of adult Gen Zers associate social media use with the word addicting), we now know that a much lower 37 percent of Alphas claim that social apps are an important part of their daily lives. And, fortunately, just 19 percent of Alpha’s state that social media use is part of their identity, and 15 percent of those surveyed report that social media apps give their life meaning.
Apps and social media projections are fortunately not omnipresent and omnipotent in the lives of many Alphas. In fact, forty percent use these apps to form and maintain relationships, while only 24 percent believe that these apps help them connect to something bigger than themselves. Alphas see and live in a world outside of virtual life where they still have in-person genuine connections. While digital media is absolutely present for 13-year-olds, it is not ubiquitous yet for this generation, and the most common reason Alphas use social media is because their friends use it meaning that a preference cascade can move in the other direction too.
Moving beyond apps and the digital world, the data show that 13-year-old, typically 8th-grade Alphas are not yet fixated on politics or on their identities. This finding provides a strong contrast to what we see in collegiate settings where there is often an extreme focus on questions of intersectionality, identity, and politics.
When Alphas are directly asked about how they think about themselves – with options including gender, race, family status, and more – the data demonstrate that their age group, matters most to their conception of self. After age, family status – being a sibling or a son or daughter - is the second most important factor in their identity. Factors like sexual orientation (4 percent), political party (1 percent), social class (3 percent), religion (6 percent), and even race and ethnicity (10 percent) are quite minor.
Turning to the question of racial and ethnic identities directly, Alphas are not focused on race. When asked about how important their race or ethnicity is in describing who they are, 28 percent report that race is very important to their identity, but 48 percent say that it is only slightly or not at all important to them. Similarly, when Alphas are asked if they think of themselves mainly as a particular racial/ethnic group or just as an American, 67 percent report that they think of themselves as just an American. Fifteen percent focus on their ethnicity while 9 percent report never thinking about this before.
It is also worth noting that Alphas think that increased racial and ethnic diversity is a plus as well. In response to the idea that over the next quarter century, the United States will become more racially and ethnically diverse, 56 percent think that this is a good thing, 33 percent are not sure or have a neutral view, and only 10 percent of respondents think that this diversity is a bad thing.
Finally, the Alphas surveyed are quite open regarding their political ignorance. When asked about policy issues like education, poverty, or immigration, only 10 percent of these middle schoolers report having “a lot” of political knowledge. Meanwhile, 50 percent state that they have either very little or no political knowledge, and another 40 percent report that they have some, but not a lot of background on government and politics.
As for political identities, 45 percent of Alphas are unsure or have no political party, and another 13 percent identify as Independent. About a quarter (24 percent) of Alphas claim to be Democrats, and 17 percent are Republicans. With a sizeable block of Alphas that are independent or unsure, young Americans have the opportunity to learn from the parties and develop their political opinions for themselves.
Alpha’s ideological preferences prove this. About 4 out of 10 (40 percent) of Alphas report not knowing their ideological position, and another 20 percent state that they are moderate or right in the middle. 15 percent of Alphas maintain that they are either extremely liberal or liberal while 12 percent claim to be either extremely conservative or conservative. That being said, however, just 9 percent of Alphas are collectively on the ideological extremes.
The political identities of Alphas are not well formed or extreme whatsoever and the data powerfully show this fact. Today’s 13 year old Alphas are more likely to say “I don’t know” than to identify with a specific political party or ideological position and that is good news for the nation.
Certainly, the Alpha Generation is not perfect. Springtide data shows that, like adults, Alphas are dealing with issues related to loneliness, worry, and anxiety. However, there is an incredible opportunity now to help our nation’s 13-year-olds find balance and positivity and learn to work through differences and engage in meaningful debate and dialogue. Alphas are not locked into political and racial identities, nor have they been fully captured by social media. Alphas see themselves most commonly as member of their age group, and the potent identity politics and segregation popular on many collegiate campuses have not set in for these younger Americans.
There is a vacuum and an opportunity for our nation’s Alphas– rather than letting apps, identity politics, and misinformation sink in and shape our youngest generation for the worse, schools and communities can and should take the lead in setting the right tone, embracing viewpoint diversity, and helping students be unafraid to question, learn, and connect with others meaningfully, offline, and in person, away from the toxic apps that fracture community and spew misinformation.
