Why Gen Alpha is out of control

Gen Alpha is quickly becoming known for outrageous behavior, and the internet may not be to blame.

Gen Alpha, the birth year range being 2010-2024 is the generation after Gen Z (Zoomers generation)

Many people including myself have witnessed the behaviors frequently exhibited by Gen Alpha. These behaviors often consist with being disrespectful to people and property, the internet has been flooded with videos of children ages 8-13 degrading staff at stores, destroying products within the stores, and deliberately being rude to the other customers or even their own family members.

I have seen kids in makeup stores destroying the testers, or open products for sale, spit in them, then put them back on the shelf to be sold. Just the other day, I was in Sam's Club and heard a girl who looked to be around 10 years old say

"Kill yourself, you're a joke of a mother"

when her mother told her they would get ice cream at Walmart instead since Sam's Club only sold 10lb tubs of ice cream in bulk.

Most people believe that the parents are to blame since this kind behavior is often the fault of the parents, but I'm starting to believe that less and less with Gen Alpha. I've seen parents try just about every form of discipline in the book. Hitting, yelling, lecturing, grounding, revoking electronics, adding chores, explaining why the behavior is wrong, telling the child what is expected of them, and none of these along with many other methods seem to have no effect.

You'll likely say that the internet is to blame if not the parents, but that's not the case either. I've seen kids act this way regardless of online restrictions or lack there of. I've even seen kids act this way that have been cyber schooled their entire school life with no access to any electronic that Isn't their school laptop. I was cyber schooled the entirety of my school life, and I can confirm that the laptops provided by the school are heavily restricted, even the most tech-savvy kids couldn't gain access to any websites the school didn't pre-approve.

So if it's not the parents, it's not the internet, and it's not the school system, then why is Gen Alpha so out of control? The anti-bullying movement. By no means am I suggesting that bullying is right, I am referring to the fact that any form of criticism is now considered bullying. The anti-bullying movement has been taken so far, society no longer has the ability to regulate people's actions.

Bullying often involves weeks, months, or years of verbal and/or physical abuse by one or more individuals, directed at something specific an individual cannot control (birth marks/defects, speech impediment, learning disabilities, etc.)

Criticism often involves one-off or occasional comments by one or more individuals directed at things that can be changed or worked on, such as undesirable behavior or poor choices (choosing to wear shorts to prom, talking too loud, interrupting people, scratching your balls in public, etc.)

When my Gen X parents were kids, if a child was running around the classroom on all fours, barking at people and biting the other kids, other kids would tell that kid

"You're weird" or "This is why no one wants to play with you"

Did those words hurt? Yes, they did, but it didn't take long for the kid to realize that pretending to be a dog in the middle of class isn't acceptable behavior.

If a teenager was outside yelling at his parents to buy him the PlayStation 1, the neighbors told him

"You aren't getting anything but a kick in the ass if you keep talking to your mother that way"

This didn't make him want the PS1 any less, but it showed him that he needed to show others respect to get something in return.

The issue with Gen Alpha boils down to criticism being viewed as bullying. If someone calls a kid "weird" for acting like a dog in class, that person is scolded for being a "bully". If someone steps in to say a person is being disrespectful, they're told to mind their own business, or to stop harassing them.

It doesn’t matter if a kid is in cyber, public, or private school. If they have internet access or not. Regardless of how the parents handle it, kids don't want to listen to their parents. Questioning authority and rebelling against it is part of growing up, learning boundaries and distinguishing right from wrong. Since society has villainized the criticism children need to form respect and boundaries, Gen Alpha is quickly becoming a large group of people who lack guidance and self-regulation.