November 2025
Let’s start here:
Few things have fueled cultural conversation in recent years quite like the Gen Z Trend Piece™. Every new article emblazoned with “Gen Z ruined XYZ” has acted as cultural chum, inescapably delicious bait from which to attach opinions of all kinds. Tracking this generation, arguably the most known generation ever, has been as exhausting as it has been exhaustive. If you’re in marketing, “Gen Z” has no doubt been the aspirational audience of many a brief, regardless of the fact that targeting a generation of people is so broad as to be pointless (for the purposes of today’s Study Guide, we’ll use the rule that Gen Z is anyone born 1997-2010).
Recently however, the focus has begun to shift toward Gen Z’s successor: Gen Alpha (for the purposes of this Study Guide, we’ll say Gen Alpha is anyone born 2011-2024, and yes, it does sometimes start to feel icky when the focus of marketing conversations turns toward literal children – see the recent furor over Shay Mitchell’s skincare for kids). More and more trend articles over the past year have mentioned both Gen Z AND Alpha, as if all people between the ages of 2 and 28 had a meeting and decided to be in cahoots over specific cultural topics. While search for Alpha-related content is still significantly smaller than Gen Z, search for “Gen A” globally is up 49% YoY, and search for “Gen Alpha” in September 2025 was 3.4x the volume it was in September 2023 (Glimpse). Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a million future trend pieces gathering steam.
At Quick Study, we’ve witnessed this swell in conversation and curiosity firsthand. This year, we worked on three projects that straddle the Venn diagram of younger Gen Z and older Gen Alpha – from tech to higher education to fashion/retail — and have come to better understand what makes this emerging cohort tick. They are, of course, incredibly young and impressionable, with evolving feelings and beliefs; a generation of statistical contradictions is to be expected when their brains are literally still forming. But despite the hyperbole that dominates conversation, these younger generations aren’t that different from their predecessors. Like all generations, the majority of their actions are not irrational, but make total sense when viewed through the context of the world that formed them.
Too often today, trend reporting relies on the linguistics of the topic, namely memes and phrasings. Entire news cycles about young people are predicated on two or three TikToks that supposedly represent an entire generation. So, as the conversation around Gen Alpha intensifies, we have the opportunity to do something we have only realized with Gen Z in hindsight: look past the exaggerations and aberrations and focus on how context explains their attitude and behaviors.
Every young generation…
…has hallmarks that come to define it, things like formative events, tensions, language, cultural influences, technology, and work style. These elements come together to force the generation to make decisions, to choose core beliefs, and to decide what they value most. While the variables remain consistent, the way they connect to define a generation are only visible after they occur. In other words, the actions and beliefs of a generation are always in response to something, whether that’s the previous generation, real-time cultural shifts, or impactful monocultural events. Inside the generation, the actions and beliefs feel completely rational, but for outside observers, it can be confusing to see younger people make decisions that go against our own generation’s experience.
That’s exactly what we are seeing right now with the Gen Z/Alpha cusp. In our experience with this group, we’ve found them to be rational actors facing similar cornerstone-defining questions as past generations but choosing to make new decisions based on the world as they see it and live it today. They are not nearly as destructive to society’s traditions as they may seem, but are often forced to respond to those traditions and generational markers differently.
Perhaps the variable that is most relevant when thinking about young Gen Z and older Gen Alpha compared to other generations is technology. As Casey Lewis noted in her recent report on Gen Alpha for Day One Agency, “Gen Alpha doesn’t really ‘go online.’ They were born there.” This shift – from a Gen Z cohort that is not fully digitally native but is nonetheless obsessed with being online to a Gen Alpha one that doesn’t even think about the line between on and off – is a key fault line between these two groups. The way Gen Alpha uses technology today, and how technology has begun to frame their worldview, is at times indecipherable to those who are not internet native. Without being in their context, the choices being made just don’t seem to make sense. That problem is intensified with a generation like Alpha that lacks cringe and leans into irony, because randomness has become a hallmark trait. In these instances, the irony and absurdism embedded in how young people speak is often turned into hyperbolic cries about their lack of care for themselves and others, even though their care is just the same as generations that came before and their actions are just a new form of expressing it.
Between tech and the other factors at play, the challenge when thinking about younger generations is this: Are we taking the things young people are doing at face value, or are we looking deeper at the reality under the hood? To help illustrate this, let’s look at a few examples of how certain Gen Z/Alpha “trends” are taking hold and break down their contextual realities:
Connection
What the Headlines Say: The only way to reach Gen Alpha is online
The Reality:
Let’s stay on technology for a minute, because the conversation about Gen Alpha is definitely skewing that way, and sometimes for good reason. Recent studies from Morning Consult and GlobalWebIndex found that 46% of 9-11 year olds and 44% of Gen Z are spending 3+ hours on social media daily, respectively. Armed with that information, it would be easy to determine that the best way to reach Gen Alpha or Z is to go all-in on the internet, an assumption that many are making as you can see from the headlines above.
But do young people actually feel good about all that time they are spending online? Only 20.2% of 16 and 17 year olds think social media is good for society, 34.4% say they are trying to limit their time on social media, and the top reason they use social media is simply to fill spare time (GlobalWebIndex). They aren’t always online because they want to be, but because they feel like they have to be available and connected, just in case. “We are living in an epidemic of constant communication,” wrote 21-year-old Substacker and college student Amanda Brown. “There’s a sense of entitlement to constant communication. Even when you can’t talk, the expectation is that you voice it. And if you don’t, what does that mean? That you don’t care?” Being locked into the use of devices since birth, and having had access to the always-on communication of the internet since soon after, makes young people feel beholden to it and its dominance inescapable.
With a cloud of negativity hanging over young people’s online experiences, brands have a chance to follow Gen Alpha back into the real world. New research shows Gen Alpha is interested in being out and doing things with others: 50% would rather watch sports in person and 59% enjoy movies in theaters more than at home. Additionally, when at the movies, 47% prefer seeing movies in a busy theater compared to 37% in a quiet one. The kids want to be in community with others.
This want for IRL experiences with others creates brand opportunities, too. 66% of Gen Alpha say they would pay more for something they can only use in the real world (Razorfish). Some of the most popular stores in SoHo today are along what’s been coined as “Tween Row,” a collection of stores that draw lines outside not just for their products, but for the community being in the space represents. One of the stores on Tween Row, Brandy Melville, even employs a 17-year-old TikTok influencer that tweens specifically visit the store to meet. Hollywood has also started to come around to the idea that the real world is how to keep young people interested: “To keep Gen Z — and now Alpha — engaged and spending, studios and streamers are realizing the next frontier isn’t more content, but more context: live, physical, sharable, and meme-able worlds built around the IP they love,” says Matthew Frank of The Ankler (emphasis on context his). Maybe the way to Gen Alpha’s heart isn’t through the internet after all?
Our work with GoDaddy focused on messaging for young entrepreneurs and creators showed us that brands don’t need to be sure they are showing up on both sides of the online/offline divide, and that solely focusing on the internet is a misunderstanding of how younger Gen Z and older Gen Alpha see the world. If something is good or interesting, it will spread anywhere young people want it to thanks to their compulsion for constant communication. That means that a good IRL experience might even be more powerful than a good online one because it creates more chances for discovery. As Lewis wrote in her Gen Alpha study: “Platform gatekeeping doesn’t prevent trend fluency. Even kids who spend no time scrolling on TikTok are well-versed in the decidedly TikTok-driven phenomena like ‘brainrot.’” The symbiotic relationship between the online and offline world means the opposite is true too – offline gatekeeping doesn’t prevent trend creation. The transitive property of the constant communication epidemic means that the right story will show up everywhere all at once.On top of that, cultural time has sped up since the pandemic in ways many brands have not adjusted for. Our research last year found that 59% of Americans feel like time is moving faster than ever before. Instead of reacting to this and adjusting how they tell their story, many brands seem intent on cosplaying as Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock, using outdated strategies instead of accepting the new consumer landscape. A generic funnel-based strategy that uses the same content on social media, digital, and TV was novel in the early 2010s, but not anymore, despite the willingness of so many to continue dipping into the same old well.
Education
What the Headlines Say: Young people don’t want to go to college anymore
The Reality:
Not really true. Once again, it’s important to take a step back and look at the environment that the youngest Gen Zers and oldest Gen Alphas are seeing in front of them. They have learned from the experience of their parents that the traditional American dream of one job for 40 years then retirement has ended. They have come to learn that most career paths moving forward will be non-linear, and are looking for an education structure that prepares them accordingly. They are also seeing the creator and gig economies shift around them in real-time – a creator economy that often feels like a lottery ticket shot at something bigger, and a gig economy that is changing the first jobs many teenagers have (according to GlobalWebIndex, 46% of Gen Z have done some type of gig economy job in the last year – from delivering food to selling something they’ve made on Etsy). Additionally, they are at the front lines of an AI revolution and are continually hearing that artificial intelligence will completely change their future prospects.
The actual reaction from young people that is emerging to all those changes is more pragmatic than drastic. Young people aren’t opting out of education; they are looking for a way to ensure outcomes that are more future-proofed, well-rounded, and obsolescence-avoidant. On one end of the spectrum, trade schools are thriving because they represent stable industries that are somewhat protected from technological advancement or broader cultural shifts. On the other end, interdisciplinary, liberal arts style education institutions have an opportunity to thrive because they provide the kinds of non-linear experiences that prepare people for the types of careers AI can’t easily replace. The middle of HigherEd – the classic vision of College with one major and focus for 4 years that sets you up for career success – is hollowing out, but young people aren’t ditching education, they’re shifting to its flanks.
We saw this misunderstanding of young people’s educational perspectives firsthand in our work to reposition Ithaca College this summer. A liberal arts college that has a high percentage of students double majoring, minoring in unrelated fields, or studying relevant topics like entrepreneurship and business development, Ithaca is exactly the kind of school young people are looking for right now. Our research uncovered how Ithaca can tell a more compelling story to prospective students, and keep that story alive on campus to reinforce belonging. While competitor schools are talking about turning students into global changemakers, Ithaca is tapping into a more personal and grounded aspiration: the promise of success in a non-linear future.
Fashion
What the Headlines Say: Young people are focused more on where their clothing comes from
The Reality:
We just talked about how the prospect of a non-linear future has changed education. It’s also changed fashion. Trends shift faster than ever before, meaning that to be “on trend” young people need a wardrobe that is also ever-changing. Some of this points to an opportunity for thrifting, which gives Gen Alpha the chance to stock up on different versions of their dressed selves for lower cost. But some of it also points to hauls – the mass consumption of clothing brands based on seasons or periods of life.
These hauls are where the idealism of a young generation meets the fiscal realities of the life they are trying to live. A young person’s need for an ever-evolving wardrobe to match their subcultural exploration demands a level of affordability and access that doesn’t allow sustainability to be the top factor in their shopping. According to GlobalWebIndex, 22% of 16 and 17 year olds say sustainability is one of the most important factors when buying new clothing or shoes. This is a higher percentage than Millennials (16%), but still miles behind fit/comfort (63%), price (61%), quality (53%), and several other deciding factors.
Our recent project with a notable fashion brand that is launching a new partnership with an up-and-coming Gen Z designer showed us that the line between commerce and community is blurrier than ever. Young people know that their clothing choices signal something about themselves, and even from a young age, they are considering what those choices mean for their personal brand and for how others perceive them and the communities they are a part of. This fluency in brand and personal storytelling extends from fashion into social media, where viral TikToks from brands are littered with comments about how good the branding is or how powerful the marketing is. Young people see advertising for what it is, and accept it when it feels right. They know they are themselves a walking billboard, but not a static one – a digital one that shifts as they need it to.
In all of these examples…
…we see that the actions young people are taking are not as irrational or different as they seem, but in fact are logical reactions to the world that formed them. Every generation will have its outliers, but we mustn't fall for grand declarations of generational divides that are merely differences in context or longtime tropes reframed through the lens of the internet. To truly understand younger Gen Z, Gen Alpha, or anyone, you have to look at the underlying motivations. Otherwise, the trend cycle will continue to spin out of control, ultimately clouding the real opportunities to understand who comes next and what they need from your brand.
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