Born between 2010 and 2024, Generation Alpha is the first generation to grow up with constant access to smartphones, social media, and the internet. As ninth-graders and some sophomores progress through UPrep, community members are noticing distinct differences between Generation Alpha and Gen Z.

Middle school director Brian Johnson sees differences in attention spans and processing of information between Gen Alpha and older students.

“I saw a huge change in the classroom. And most importantly attention span seems shorter to me,” Johnson said.

He connects this to the pace of online content, which he believes leads to students expecting continuous stimulation.

“You can go through like 50 reels of watching nothing, but you just have some type of constant input,” Johnson said. “And sometimes I feel like kids want that in the classroom.”

Johnson believes that early access to social media shapes how Generation Alpha processes information.

“The sixth graders that we see coming in, they’ve been fully digital all of their lives, and their access to information has been great,” Johnson said. “They’re constantly bombarded with information, compared to those older generations of students, who had to seek it out.”

Johnson notices Generation Alpha being weaker in identifying actual information.
“In questions asking for facts or opinion, our seventh graders were weaker in that area,” Johnson said.

Ninth-grader Ariela Pineda sees how being online can lead to misinformation.

“People just accept things as true rather than researching it, because that feels like too much work,” Pineda said.

Ninth-grader Adam Hall agrees that Gen Alpha accepts information rather than digging deeper.

“I think most people in generation alpha, kind of believe the first thing that pops up. It’s also just a laziness that we don’t want to keep researching,” Hall said.

Teachers notice other trends in the classroom. Seventh and eighth grade English teacher Carl Faucher connects this shift to the long-term effects of COVID-19.

“Kids’ ability to retain and read long form reading, like novels, longer articles has decreased,” Faucher said. “Social norms and academic skills were a little different for kids who were on screens during COVID because they were really young.”

Gen Z senior Noah Roth notices the differences between his Middle School experience and Gen Alpha’s.

“I think COVID impacted their study habits and a lot of the basics of what I learned in middle school,” Roth said.

Ninth grade dean, James Johnson notices an opposite trend. He believes that the graduating class of 2025 was not as academically strong entering ninth grade in comparison to the current ninth grade class.

“They perhaps weren’t as academically strong leading into the ninth grade, the current ninth graders are more prepared to be freshmen,” James Johnson said.

Brian Johnson sees strengths emerging within Gen Alpha, describing them as open-minded, empathetic and emotionally aware.

“I think younger kids are much more in tune with issues around mental health,” Brian Johnson said. “They’re much more accepting of difference than certainly my generation was.”

Faucher agrees, observing different methods of self-expression among students.

“There is much more choice in terms of how they express themselves, not just in terms of sexual orientation, but gender identity,” Faucher said.

Pineda sees this openness, but also notices how it can create new tensions.

“I noticed that we are more accepting of different perspectives, but we also have some people with more extreme views,” Pineda said.

Hall shared similar concerns about how extreme views are formed in Gen Alpha.

“Some people online will push really intense opinions on us,” Hall said. “And sometimes it feels like everyone our age has to pick a side on everything.”

James Johnson believes that the 9th-grade Gen Alpha students get along better with each other than the graduating 2025 class.

“I think we[Graduating 2025 senior class] had more social issues as far as dynamics, with kids not necessarily getting along as much,” James Johnson said.

Social life has also evolved. Brian Johnson notes that many Gen Alpha students balance two distinct communities.

“I see a lot of kids that have this online outside of school social circles, either through gaming, or different things that they’re doing online,” Brian Johnson said. “And then they have their in-school kind of set of friends.”

Hall sees the same thing, but also notes that social dynamics will be different for each individual.

“A lot of people in my grade have both online and in-person friends; there are so many different social media and video games that can do that,” Hall said. “It really just depends on the person; some kids will be more social in person and some kids will be maybe more introverted.”