Imagine a 14-year-old girl sitting on her bed after school, scrolling on her phone. She opens Tiktok, Snapchat, and Instagram. She mindlessly looks at reels and sends photos of herself to random people. She is so tuned out of her surroundings that she barely noticed her mom calling her downstairs for dinner… four times.
That 14-year-old girl is part of Generation Alpha, also known as the “iPad kids” of the world. Not everyone is familiar with that term because not everyone has grown up in an era of the internet. To simplify, kids have relied on screens to entertain them when they aren’t eating, breathing, or sleeping. According to Liberty’s current records, out of the 356 freshman students attending Liberty, nearly 91% of those students have a phone, and an estimated 65% of them are active on social media. Considering this generation of iPad kids, students have been exposed to the internet for most of their lives, and social media has always had a presence.
The oldest Gen A kids have been forced to grow up in an era of Snapchat, Tiktok, Instagram, and exposure to the vastness of the internet. According to an article written in The Californian, “Kids, born between 2010 to 2024 have grown up with social media available at their fingertips from a very young age.”
The obsession with social media and the state of students being immersed in technology, especially at school, is excessive. Experts say kids are being influenced by popular creators and falsely advertised to buy products that aren’t of good quality, just to say they have it.
“I bought a ball pump and a soccer ball that a professional I like uses, and it backfired on me by not being as good of quality as advertised,” freshman Carlos Hernandez said.
In interviews with 2010’s that attend Liberty, they all stated that they personally, or someone they know, has been influenced to buy something because of social media. Every student interviewed also said they think their friends have been influenced by social media to buy products not knowing the quality or why they even want it, solely for the purpose of saying they owned something advertised to them by someone famous or an ad on Instagram/Tiktok.
It has also been a struggle for teenage girls, having to feel the pressure of beauty standards and living up to societal expectations of what is considered attractive.
“Moisturizer, primer, concealer, bronzer, blush, powder, highlighter, brow glue, mascara, and setting spray,” freshman Ella Wu-Heilman said.
In explaining her makeup routine, Wu-Heilman also stated that she “felt way better about herself” when she uses more products than less. She also explained how she felt that girls her age and older had to have “no acne and a thin waist” to be seen as attractive in her generation.
“I think people my age would be happier without their phones. It’s good for contacting friends and staying connected, but a big part of it is a mix between wanting to stay connected and being addicted” Wu-Heilman said.
