CW: 
and generally horrifying information about the state of affairs. Some choice quotes:
People always say that every generation thinks the younger generation is getting weird, and is crazier. But I believe that what I am witnessing of the gen alphas is just completely different from the type of rebellion of my generation (gen z).
People will keep saying “we’ve always complained about the newest generation,” but society is fundamentally different now and it’s not just this generation. My parents are victims too, slaves to their devices. It seems like only some Gen X and Millennials are at least technologically aware enough to see what’s going on.
The screen and media addiction of generation alpha is actually an emergency that requires government intervention. Its literally like a black mirror episode what this stuff is doing to kids.
They are that incapable of looking at stationary with print on it. If it doesn’t have a back-light and it doesn’t move, it will not keep their attention.
I’ve heard from a lot of teachers saying the same thing. The newer cohorts of students are performing far lower academically and have a lot of behavioral issues.
It’s really hard to parse out what’s actually happening and what’s sensationalism.
My material analysis pet theory is that we’re increasingly seeing that dual incomes are necessary to survive. The state does not provide access to childcare. Overworked parents don’t have the time to spend and socialize their children. Then kids spend way too much of their developmental years on devices. To me, the devices alone wouldn’t be so bad if economic conditions made it easier to actually raise children.
Regardless of what people say about new tech every generation, what we’re seeing now is an order of magnitude higher than what we’ve seen before. The devices and the apps on them are engineered to keep people on them as long as possible. China has recognized this and attempted to limit screen time for young people. Anyone who says that these devices are having no effect on how we process information is unserious.
Also I think it wouldn’t be so bad if online entertainment wasn’t a capitalist hellscape with a predatory SEO economy and zero oversight.
In my following of online communities like that /r/teachers one and a few others it doesn’t take long before you notice some very concerning patterns. Overall they’re all saying the same things about attention span and whatnot.
Another big issue I’m seeing pop up on those communities is illiteracy. Kids in middle school that can barely write their own names, for example.
The fact that video has replaced text as the default medium for conveying information is not helping to say the least.
Just keep in mind that what you see in a subreddit for teachers is only representative of teachers who willingly use reddit lol
Tbf I willingly use Reddit as much as I hate that about myself, so the equivalent of me who works as a teacher probably also does
It makes me wonder where they’re teaching. I’ll sometimes visit family in Upstate New York where they live in a nicer part of the city they’re in. The teens I’ve met from my younger relatives seem no different than we were at their age. They read novels, gossip, play sports, etc. The only real difference is how much more they speak in internet lingo and are on their phones but even then it isn’t anything unbearable. They also happen to go to school in the nicer suburbs.
The city schools are notorious for all the issues mentioned in subreddits like the teachers one. I have another relative who teaches in those schools and the stories she tells fall directly in line with the stories I’ve seen on Reddit.
Which would go well with Thallo’s theory about double incomes. Wealthier families in upstate NY can afford to only have one parent working.
I’m not a fan of slop and the whole attention economy / arms race social media has created, but fwiw I think it’s less important to make sure people are literate and more important to ensure our society does not require literacy. Iirc over half of Americans are already considered at least partially illiterate, and they’re not really accommodated for adequately.
Also, language and mediums do shift over time and preferring video over text isn’t an inherently bad thing imo.