The Fidgetty Generation

 

"Generation Alpha has very different expectations for the entire world. Everything that's going to happen in their lives needs to be visual, on demand, adaptive, and we have to find a way to embed that into our experiences." — Margo Georgiadis 

Gen Alpha- the ones born from 2010 till date- including my own kid- shows traits never seen before in teens of yonder years. Their eyes have been glued to screens from the time they were born. It may have initially started as a way to get them sit tight and finish their meals, but eventually it became a habit- and this habit has become part of their behavior without them being aware of it. Even we adults have become so accustomed to our gadgets, it takes up so many of our hours of the day, that we could have been reading, spending quality family time or even pick up on a hobby or talent. Screens- it has overcome our time and our next generation- and if we do not do something about it- we will just allow the screens to turn our world upside down by creating an anxious, fidgetty generation that lacks stability in thought, words and deeds. 

I have worked with teens all my career, but every passing year increases my concern for the upcoming population of our world. The boom of social media, kids having their own accounts even before they know how to drive, YouTube 'University', the shorts and reels culture- everything has its effects on each consumer, including our kids. Though this means information boom too, people are not becoming more knowledgeable. The number of notifications every day trigger the number of times you check your phone. Teens might access their phones at least 100 times per day- not to mention that happens during classes or even church service- and the number of times increases for adults!! People keep opening and reading forwards, forward it to 50 other people without even thinking whether what they are sharing is accurate or not. Where do we draw the line to limit this usage? When will we realize how much our next generation is going to lose out on if this continues? Our generation has maybe 20-30 more years left in the workforce, but these kids might even live to see the 22nd century. What will be their future, if they only know how to watch, game, scroll and comment?

Using gadgets all day long- especially in the classrooms of USA- iPads and chromebooks used for most of the classroom tasks- I believe students have so much more energy left in them that they have to keep doing something. Fidgets, squishies, and slime of all kinds are in the market today, and almost every kid has stock in their lockers, pouches and pockets. I am sure companies are making millions with these small and otherwise useless things. I remember when those first fidgets came in the market- someone told how it could be used to focus more or maybe you started buying them as a stress reliever. But as I keep seeing more of them in classes, I doubt that ever was the aim. These have become the 'boredom reliever' of today's kids now. A single minute of serious talk or silent work time can lead the fingers back to their escape zone with one of these in their palms. Chewing gum, earphones and fidgets define the Gen Alpha of today. So many things are available to keep them focused, but are they focused on what's important?

The hype for ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response)-type of videos has increased all over the internet-where the volume of all the tapping, whispering, scrapping, cooking, munching sounds are magnified 10-fold to create some kind of 'brain massage'- a tingling sensation that goes down your spine. If you ask my kid, she would say they are 'soooo satisfying'- wait, watching someone eat ridiculous amounts of food loudly, squish their fingers through slime and kinetic sand, cooking or making something with the microphone right near all the action for our ears to vibrate more- arent't all these videos that get millions of views quite absurd? When are we going to realize that someone is making money on our time, the present and future of us and our kids, stealing manhours and efficiency from us, and even our brain power. These one-minute or less shorts and reels are the most dangerous as it keeps making the users scroll down, one after the other, slowly changing the basic nature of our concentration and attention span- which in turn makes us resltess, anxious and fidgety ourselves. Even more dangerous are those videos that have split screens with such ASMR activities happening on one side and some random person enacting or talking non-stop on the other. What's the ultimate purpose of making our kids adict to such shorts- other than the creators making money on their end? Do we realize in just maybe 20 minutes' time if you check the history, you might see that you or your kid watched around 35-40 shorts or small reels in that short amount of time. Whoa, right? As a result, we all, including our kids, are becoming attention deficit. We can hardly sit for five mintues without something to do. We gotta slow down, folks, we gotta slow down.

Now, the teens and tweens of today do not know what is boredom- and do not want to even know. When we go on long journeys,  I make sure my daughter takes things to do during the travel time- but still she turns to a screen in the meanwhile. Sometimes when she forgets to take something and comments that she is 'bored', I reply to her 'It's okay to be bored!'. Her generation has access to phones and iPads making them frustrated as soon as the connection gets taken away from them in any way. We have even witnessed stories of teens lashing out on parents for not allowing them to use a phone or for not buying them a new phone they demanded- even some leading all the way to bloodshed. Kids these days do not know how to sit one minute without something to do, and that is where these fidget toys, doodling and constant watching fills in. Majority of kids lack a good hobby these days- no more coin or stamp collections, a lot less reading and just more watching, less collective TV watching as everyone is on their own screens in separate rooms. I feel such a disinterestedness in them sometimes, towards what others go through, respecting elders, teachers and even clergy, being concerned with even their classmates going through problems or even standing up in respect for the National pledge or anthem. So many of the movies, TV/internet shows and games have violence and killing in it, not to mention, even in the news too, that just like the pandemic created a new normal, spending more time watching and engaging in such visual stuff, makes us slowly believe that this kind of negativity is quite normal. Well, now, wasn't being bored just better???

The Reader's Digest once talked about the evolving language of this generation. "The slang can grow faster, and it can die faster... Gen Alpha is flattening geographic distinctions. Somebody in New Mexico can be speaking the same slang as somebody in Ireland." It is so true how someone creates a trend on the other side of the world, but can be known instantly in another place and people just follow them. Remember the 6-7 trend a few months back? It started with a rap song published in 2024, but in 2025 kids and teens alike just used it as a meme until the brain rotted. All through the classrooms and corridors, it just became a nonsensical thing to say and do the actions along with it, and it literally had almost no meaning at all. Well, now they all have almost forgotten about it, ocassionally remembering, in case someone said those numbers, but words and phrases like these evolve and die out so soon with this 'sigma' generation. Another such word is 'Capybara'- an animal found in South America mostly, but gained popularity through the internet through a song and sudden splurge of videos, making it the most adored animal in our times. There are capybara stuffed animals, stickers, and T-shirts everywhere. We have not even heard about this animal in our childhood, but now there is no YouTube kid who doesn't know about it and may even go crazy if they get to see one. No, there is even a Bible 'translation' for the teens of today, with their slangs included, if you want to believe it or not! If I even type in one verse of it here, it might feel offensive, so search it up yourself if you can't help your curiosity. My point is, language, trends, and culture gets mixed up so bad these days- they do not realize they are imbibing a lot of unwanted stuff along with the good. That's the pros and cons of the world wide web, which these kids were born right into. 

Being a Christian makes me biased for sure, but I truly believe 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' (Proverbs 9:10). The basic problem we see around us is the lack of godliness and God in our daily lives. If there were immense changes in the very framework of the Temple of Jerusalem in the twenty years gap between when Jesus visited as a child of 12 and later as a 33 year old, so much to make Him rage and overthrow everything happening there- imagine how much changes has already happened with these few decades of the internet and the consumer market controlling our time, homes and lives. This calls for a time where we should 'weep' for ourselves and our children, if you realize the depth of the situation before its too late. Before we know and they know, our kids will lose out on the real potential of their brains, which in turn will affect the future economy, and even worse, their next generation. We have to make them earn what they need, be aware their wrongdoings have consequences and meeting deadlines for assignments or chores are still in fashion, understand the difference between necessities and nonessentials, and mould less entitled kids.

The future has always been uncertain. But with the internet and the rise artificial intelligence, it seems like we are raising a generation that will not be able to cope with adversities, face trials and temptations, turn a blind eye and ear to the suffering around them, and just be glued to their own screens, worried only about themselves- until reality kicks in and hits them on the face before they realize it. I worry- as my 10 year-old is part of this upcoming human race- and as said before, these issues are universal. No one is going to be spared- unless they live under a rock or just in the interior jungles where internet has not reached yet. I'm not telling to stop watching anything, but watch wisely and with a check on time. Is the world ready for this fidgetty generation to grow up?

Every single kid in this age group is not on the downward trail, but this is the age that gets easily influenced by peers. The ones who study well in class even do have that occasional loss of concentration or focus, right? There is even a general disregard sometimes for full potential performances, as that keeps them out of the 'cool' pack. We parents, teachers, religious leaders, behavioralists, psychologists and policy-makers have to wake up to the need of the hour, cover up this huge breach of conduct, and make our kids realize this and focus back on what matters. It's not the time to be NICE anymore- but REALISTIC and be daring enough to speak up when it matters- even if that means you make enemies on the way, be it your own kid. The more fidgets, the more stress, not less. The more videos and games, the more distraction, not less. The more shorts, the more deterioration of the brain, not less. The more of all the noise from the outside world, the more uneasiness, anxiety and depression, not less. Is this what we want? Is this what we envision for our next generation? If your answer is NO, then it is time that we whip out the unwanted, and rope in genuine togetherness and even boredom. They should be able to increase their brain power, attention span, face challenges and stress, pick themselves up, put their priorities straight, and head to the way possible for them before AI and robots take over everything. READY, SET, GO.

Remya Rachel Thomas