WE’RE BAAAACK! 🔥 We are so excited to announce Season 2 of The Cave Project! Be sure you’ve subscribed here Substack, on Instagram, and your podcast platform of choice to be notified of new episodes as they come soon! 🎉
Thanks for all of the great feedback on Season 1, where we covered topics like:
We absolutely loved all of the feedback, encourage, questions, and memes you shared along the way. Keep it coming. 🤗
For Season 2, we have a STACKED agenda — featuring topics like:
Tech-Enabled Relationships
The Rise of Digital Detoxes
Staying Connected with Your Teen
Navigating Privacy in a Share-Everything Culture
My First Tech
The Evolution of E-Learning
Plus we’re planning some special events, special guests, and more! Oh yes, it’s happening. Thanks for coming along with us! 🎉
Generation Alpha is probably online right now
In our inaugural episode of Season 2, we’re talking about Generation Alpha — the demographic cohort succeeding Generation Z — which is composed of those born from 2010 to the early 2020s (these years are just as contested as previous generations).
As the first generation to be fully born into the 21st century, Generation Alpha is the most technologically integrated group of humans ever — growing up in a world of advanced digital technology, social media, and artificial intelligence. And they are already getting a bad rap about their digital and social media habits.
🎧 Listen to this episode on Apple & Spotify
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You know we love us some data. And at South by Southwest this year, we heard a lot of it. In her session “Introducing Gen Alpha: A Brand’s New Key Audience,” Morning Consult’s Joanna Piacenza highlighted the impact of this group’s Millennial parents when it comes to how they see the world, engage in social media, and impact purchase decisions.
It was a fascinating talk full of data and fun stats.
Key stats on Generation Alpha from Morning Consult:
3/4s of Generation Alphas own a phone
1 in 5 has a VR headset.
Alphas spend most of their time – 7 or more hours – on desktop computers and smartphones.
10% of Gen alphas have met most of their friends online.
YouTube is their favorite social platform.
Gen Alpha has a rosier view of influencers compared to Gen Zers.
Alphas will be more fiscally conservative and will budget because they’ve learned from their parents.
Gen Alpha will be more opinionated about your brand because their parents have involved them in decisions, unlike previous generations.
Good stuff! Lots of fodder for discussion.
And be sure to hang to the end of the episode to hear some jokes about Generation Alpha written by ChatGPT.
🤔 Six Gen A Thoughts & Takeaways
Generation Alpha will be different than us. That’s a good thing.
When you see a headline, or hear a study, or see a meme about “kids these days” be sure to dig into the methodological and investigate the background of the claim, notion, or accepted fact. Correlation does not imply causation.
It’s super fun to trash social media — lucrative even. WE ARE STILL ALL USING IT. Our kids mirror *OUR* behavior. Take some time to reflect on your own habits and hangups.
Understanding the “why” of kids using tech — instead of blocking the road to access — can be incredibly helpful for our kids and our relationships with them.
When was the last time you encouraged your kids to be creative with tech? Perhaps that could be a goal for the summer?
Get invested and find ways to join Generation Alpha, not fight them. They are the future after all!
🔗 Links Referenced In This Episode
SXSW: Introducing Gen Alpha: A Brand's New Key Audience by Joanna Piacenza
Vox: What the evidence really says about social media’s impact on teens’ mental health
Just Two Millennials Trying to Keep Pace with Generation Alpha at SXSW
See you in the future!
Jenny & Greg 🚀