What Do You Know About Generation Alpha?
After boomers and millennials, the generational names are getting less descriptive and certainly less original. It seems like it is a race to see who can name the next generation the fastest and, most importantly, have it stick.
You don’t have to say “generation” boomers or “generation” millennials as you do with Gen X, Gen Z (we should have started earlier in the alphabet) and, introducing today in this blog, Generation Alpha. I guess it is easier just using the Greek letters now. This name is credited to Mark McCrindle, an Australian researcher. He says that “Alphas” will be the wealthiest generation on the planet. (He could have called them the wealthies or the richies or the Well-to-doers.)
Generation Alpha may not last. Greek letters are not very imaginative — and who wants to be Generation Xi or Psi or Mu? For now, the oldest members of Gen Alpha are 10 years old. The rest are not born yet.
This group should be called “Generation Social*” because they will be the first generation to live their entire lives under social media’s influence. They are or will be the best educated generation, the most technologically immersed and the wealthiest.
Some have said they could be the most impatient generation because of technological advances. According to McCrindle, “This newest generation are part of an unintentional global experiment where screens are placed in front of them from the youngest age as pacifiers, entertainers and educational aids.” (So Generation Screeners?)
This generation will also live the longest and will drive autonomous vehicles, constantly use voice commands and smart speakers, use aerial ride sharing and their computers will have quantum-level ability. Nano technology will explode in uses from health to technology. Maybe this is Generation WOW.
*Just remember where you heard it first.
Mark Mathis III is chief creative & strategy officer, partner and cofounder of AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
