What the world will be like for Gen Next
They’re aged just 10 and under but already members of Generation Alpha know how to make their presence known in the world. They will be highly educated, live longer, marry later and use more technology than any previous generation.
NSW
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They’re aged just 10 and under but already members of Generation Alpha know how to make their presence known in the world.
The group born between 2010 and 2024 will be highly educated, live longer, marry later and use more technology than any previous generation, a new study from McCrindle Research predicts.
Social demographer Mark McCrindle said Generation Alpha would live well into their 90s, taking them into the 22nd century.
“This generation will see a lot of change in the world,” Mr McCrindle said. “The world economy won’t be the US any more, it’ll be China.
“The biggest nation won’t be China, it’ll be India. The fastest-growing continent won’t be Asia, it’ll be Africa.
“The dynamics of our world will be changing in the lifetime of these people. They will be the largest generation and demographic our world has seen.
“They are just about to overtake the Baby Boomers in terms of total numbers.”
And in this state of flux, the Alpha generation will know how to stand out — a trait they share with the Baby Boomers, according to Mr McCrindle.
“The Alphas, even though they are just turning 10, they have already had some impact around the world. We’ve seen the young people’s climate protests. We saw primary aged children saying enough is enough on gun violence,” he said.
Other defining characteristics will include having a very high net worth, earning money later in life and going through puberty earlier.
“They are learning more at a young age. They have this maturity earlier. It’s a maturity academically but also physically. Teachers say the things they did with Year 7 and 8 they do with Years 5 and 6,” Mr McCrindle said.
“(They’ll) delay their earning years, they’ll delay getting married and family forming. In some ways they are down-ageing. The 20-somethings won’t be a time of the marriage, mortgage and kids — they’ll be studying, or starting studying, or starting earning.”
Jessica West’s six-month-old son Jacob is one of Generation Alpha’s newer members.
A Generation Y millennial herself, 33-year-old Ms West said that her tiny son’s upbringing would be “very different” to her own.
“The world was a simpler place in the ’80s, we played outside on the street,” Ms West said.
“The world is going to be very different for Jacob, he’ll have to be concerned about things I never was. But I’m excited for his future and what it holds for him, learning how the world works and finding his place in it.”
The growing role of technology in people’s lives is something Ms West is wary of, especially an overdose of screen time.
“The world truly is our kids’ oyster, everything is available for them at the touch of a button like it never was for us. But we’ve got to make sure (this generation) don’t get too much of it, as well as being aware of cyber-bullying,” she said.
“It’s something I’m concerned about but I’m hoping to teach Jacob the right things. If there’s anything I could give him from my upbringing, I want to teach him how to build healthy relationships face-to-face rather than sitting in front of a computer.”
Ms West said there would be greater opportunities for kids of the future, who would have more freedom and choice.
“Hopefully a cure for cancer might come about as well as an end to climate change,” she said.
“We might see people holidaying in space, or robots — things my generation wouldn’t even fathom or experience, it’s all very feasible for them.”
Generation Alpha may still be in school uniforms but some have big ideas for what the world will look like once they reach adulthood. Joe Rooney, 7, may not know what a floppy disk is but he has some ideas about what new inventions will appear.
“A machine that makes breakfast for you,” he said.
Matthew Nader, 7, thinks he might’ve been born in the wrong generation, and said he would have been born in 1985 if he could choose.
“I want to use a typewriter,” he said.
Simon-Raphael Bassil will be experimenting in the kitchen when he becomes a man.
“I’ll get to bake cakes and get a million dollars,” he said.
Growing up means more holidays for Christian Bottene.
“I’ll go on a thousand vacations,” he said.
Five-year-old Adrian Mercia plays on the iPad but also loves old-school hobbies.
“I want to be a movie maker when I grow up,” he said.