In our continuously growing world, many people are exposed to advanced technology that can either benefit or corrupt one’s mind. For example, a university student could use their iPad to take notes for their classes or someone as young as 7-years-old could use their iPhone to watch YouTube. It may seem harmless at first, but once you think deeply about how a kid is exposed to technology, it can be very harmful to their being. Our new generation, Generation Alpha, is known to be commonly seen with an iPhone or iPad in hand. Usually they would see harmless videos or play video games that are suitable for their age. But not every platform you see will display that. Although it’s true there are some kids staying on the safe side of the program, there are others who do not, and it is more ordinary than you think.
First of all, kids can be introduced to social media at an early age. Many know that social media can be dangerous for your mental health considering the inconsistent change of beauty standards and many other things. Girls as young as 8-12 would be caught using makeup products to fit the beauty standard, which is truly something pitiful to see. As a result, you could find some young girls on TikTok who would look “mature” for their age, skipping that awkward preteens phase that most of Gen Z experienced.
Another factor that contributes to this sudden rush in young kids is that the social media community often cyberbullies kids that act their age when their videos or pictures are in the public eye. Because of this, they force themselves to act mature and appear older. And then older people ponder over why these children are acting like them.
This technology can also ruin their innocence, revealing many mature content themes that could scare a child or even be encouraged to seek more of these questionable videos. For instance, a 10-year-old boy could be talking about a girl in an amorous way, making him disrespectful for his actions. Being influenced by these certain videos could make the child lose their interest in the common, appropriate media and overall affect their behavior and humor. People fear that this generation will spend less time doing recreational activities outside, and instead increasing their screen time consuming negative content.
Why are these children being handed technology at such a young age? The answer may be that their parents neglect their children and use the iPad to keep them busy. Oftentimes it could be the parent being too busy to give them attention, or they are afraid of disciplining their children, making the young kids feel like burdens. On the contrary, some parents believe that they want their children to have more freedom, something that they didn’t experience in their young times. What they do not realize is that discipline is an important element when approaching teenage hood.
With these habits that are imposed on these kids, many older people are disgusted with this trend of young people acting like grown-ups. A great example of this phenomenon is the “Sephora Kids'' trend. As the name suggests, there are kids, primarily girls, who shop at the famous cosmetics store, Sephora. This store is not recommended for customers under the age of 13; the products they advertise are leaning towards women and teens. These kids aim for viral makeup and skincare products that are praised over social media such as Drunk Elephant, Sol de Janeiro, Dior, etc.
This is how social media influences these kids — they promote these various products and somehow these young kids have reached that side of the platform. They purchase these items (mostly the parents) and hope they achieve the clear, glass like skin despite how most of them have not reached the puberty stage.
Additionally, these “Sephora Kids” act immature and disrespectful towards the employees, fellow customers, and or even their own parents. Not only that but these kids lack the respect for the testers placed in the store. A common instance of this is young kids making “skincare smoothies” with Drunk Elephant skincare items. This is considered disrespectful in spite of the fact that there are other customers who want to try the products.
Who is exactly to blame for this? It’s true that this roots from parents neglecting their children and replacing them with iPads and iPhones. However, these children were exposed to these at an early age and this was their only form of entertainment. Nonetheless, this type of parenting is not the ideal kind as it ruins the kid’s mindset and behavior. Generation Alpha has grown up too fast, and we fear that they will realize they have wasted their childhood to please society’s standards.
Image Courtesy of Flickr – Photo by verkeorg