Gen Alpha is about to have some competition.
Babies born from January 1st are part of Generation Beta, a label for those born from 2025 to 2039.
The research firm McCrindle said in a blog post that Gen Beta will make up 16% of the global population by 2035, and that many Gen Beta children will live to see the 22nd century.
The firm was founded by the social researcher Mark McCrindle, who coined the term Gen Alpha.
Here is a rundown of the generational buckets commonly used for those born in the last 100 years:
- Gen Beta: 2025-2039
- Gen Alpha: 2010-2024
- Gen Z: 1997-2009
- Millennials: 1981-1996
- Generation X: 1965-1980
- Boomers: 1946-1964
- The Silent Generation: 1928-1945
Gen Beta is also expected to be heavily shaped by technology, just like their Gen Alpha forebears who have occasionally been nicknamed “iPad kids” due to their perceived reliance on tech.
McCrindle wrote that Gen Beta lives would be defined by AI and automation – and that they will face major societal challenges such as the climate crisis and global population shifts.
Parents of Gen Alpha kids are increasingly grappling with how to manage their children’s relationship with technology and AI tools, which have become widespread since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022.
A study by the Pew Research Center released in November 2023 found that one in five students who had heard of ChatGPT used it to help with their schoolwork.
Parenting commentators previously told Business Insider that Gen Alpha parents should seek to keep their children off social media for as long as possible, citing the harmful impact it can have on mental health.
The validity of using generational tags has been questioned in the past.
Pew Research Center president Michael Dimock cautioned in 2019 that it was best to view the categories as a lens to think about societal change, rather than a label with which to oversimplify differences between groups.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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