The experiences of childhood differ generation to generation. However the Gen Alpha generation seems to be missing out on a genuine childhood experience.
Gen Alpha’s are anyone born from 2010-2024 and they are often raised without restricted screen time. This generation is extremely consumed in their technology devices and it’s likely due to the fact that the first iPad was released in 2010. These two factors earned this generation the nickname, iPad kids.
Eloise Hendy in her article iPad Kids Are Getting Out of Hand, she talks about “bizarre and terribly behaved” children as well as the use of technology as a parenting substitute. This happens when parents put a screen in front of their child to silence them or as a means of keeping the child entertained and out of trouble.
“This means they’re not playing or engaging with the world around them, or being included in conversations” said Hendy in response to Ryan Lowe’s, child and adolescent psychotherapist, observation of parents using screens as a tactic to make their children behave in restaurants.
My grandma is part of the baby boomers generation and her childhood is one that I adore. She describes summer days where kids played from morning until dark, only coming home for meals. The woods from behind her house were a playground. Swimming without supervision in a creek was common by the time they reached age 10.
“We caught butterflies, grasshoppers and lightning bugs. We played croquet, badminton, kick the can and hide and seek. We made stilts. We climbed trees. We played wiffle ball. Sometimes we made a tent with a blanket over a clothesline and slept outdoors,” said my grandmother, Patricia Estarziau. “In the winter we played board games like clue or cootie or played with paper dolls. We played a lot of card games like pinochle and rummy. We made snowmen and went sledding with our flying saucers. We didn’t watch much TV because there wasn’t much on for kids. Besides, we were too busy playing with our friends. When we got older we went roller skating or bowling or to the movies.”
My mother also experienced quite the childhood as she spent her time playing outside with the neighborhood kids, riding bikes, swimming and running through the sprinklers. They would go to the skating rink and walk around the mall which had an arcade downstairs. One of her favorite hangout spots was called Naughty Nicks where they served pizza and they had pool tables and an arcade. Her generation is called Generation X.
“I think that kids these days are too into electronics and social media and no kids go outside and play. No one can go without their phones, including adults,” said my mom, Jennifer Asuncion.
As an earlier Generation Z, my childhood was very similar to the previous two as I spent the majority of my free time playing outside. From riding bikes to playing hiding and seek, I was outside until the streetlights would come on. My nine-year old sister, Lylah, is as a matter of a fact an iPad kid. I often observe her spending the majority of her time watching YouTube and TikTok. There is constantly a device in her hand as she goes on about her day.
“I like to hangout with my friends and then I also like to go to parks with my dad. And then when I hang out with my friends we sometimes go to the mall. I like to go to the beach in San Francisco,” said Lylah when asked about what she likes to do.
Typical childhood activities are being replaced by a screen however the blame can be placed upon parents for not limiting this access. According to OSF HealthCare, children from the ages of 5-7 are recommended no more than 2 hours of screen time a day and those younger, even less. However, “What’s the Big Data” shows Generation Alpha’s actual screen time of 4 hours and forty four minutes.