Baby boomers got the first color televisions. Gen X received the most nascent, dial-up version of the internet. Millennials saw the advent of smartphones, which are basically supercomputers that fit in your pocket. Gen Z has seen the rise of social media platforms and lightning-fast broadband.
It’s not clear what technological advancements in media, if any, Gen Alpha will enjoy (maybe virtual reality?), but there is an upside to being the recipient of years of technological advances — as opposed to being there for the innovation itself: When it comes to using said technology, your options are well-developed and nigh endless.
So how does Gen Alpha utilize the unlimited technology at its fingertips?
Mostly by watching YouTube.
On Monday, Variety reported on the findings of the Precise Advertiser Report-Kids, which paints a peculiar picture of the content consumption habits of the youngest demographic in the U.S.
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(Gen Alpha children are ages 2 to 13, with the oldest members turning 14 this year. PARK surveyed 2- to 12-year-olds.)
As far as content consumption patterns of young U.S. children go, two things immediately stand out:
1. Content consumption is up across the board.
2. More traditional streaming media are struggling to connect with younger viewers.
As Variety accurately assessed, “kids are widely turning to social video and [user-generated content] for entertainment,” as opposed to the scripted affairs of shows you might find on Netflix or (shudders) Disney+.
Do you let your kids use YouTube?
That obviously bodes poorly for more traditional media and streaming services, but the way Gen Alpha is filling that streaming void leaves quite a bit to be desired.
A whopping 81 percent said they had recently consumed content on the aforementioned YouTube, and that’s objectively a bad thing.
The video platform is a haven for left-wing indoctrination and a cesspool of conservative censorship. In other words, you should think twice before allowing your young children to peruse at will.
It also can’t be stressed enough that YouTube’s parent company, Google, isn’t exactly friendly toward conservatism or tradition, either.
The second-most-popular vehicle for content consumption was denoted as “SVOD,” or streaming/video on demand, with 62 percent partaking.
After that was mobile gaming at 55 percent.
There was a small drop-off after mobile games, with TikTok next at 44 percent. Disturbingly, the video social media platform is rapidly gaining in popularity — it was at 33 percent in the 2023 PARK — despite the fact that most of Gen Alpha is too young for social media.
Of note, YouTube and SVOD content both saw increases in usage from 2023 to 2024, but the gap in usage between the two widened — another bad sign for traditional streaming services.
Look, none of this is to denigrate the exhausted single mom who lets her toddler watch YouTube while she’s cooking dinner. As a father of a young boy myself, I fully understand the siren call to distract your child with a screen while work beckons.
But when swathes of American children are more familiar with YouTube’s terms of service than the Declaration of Independence, that’s a rather big problem.
And if the PARK findings are anything approaching accurate, it’s a rather big problem that only seems to be getting worse.
