Is Gen Alpha Really the Worst Generation Ever?

You might have heard the complaints about the latest batch of kids, Generation Alpha. Gen. Alphas are lazy, according to my teacher friends and acquaintances. They can’t read. They’re addicted to technology. They whine all the time. They just inherently suck.

Complaining about other generations is nothing new.  For years, it was Boomers complaining about younger generations like Millennials and Gen. Z being lazy and too sensitive, and younger generations complained about Boomers being selfish and benefiting from a post-war economy that has since been ruined by Boomer debt. Hardly anybody complains about Gen. X (Boomer-lites), but that’s only because nobody knows about us.  Thank you, Boomers!

But Generation Alpha?  Everybody f***ing hates Generation Alpha.

Personally, I have a problem with the Greatest Generation. They’re called the GREATEST because they survived/endured both the Great Depression and World War II. I don’t know about that.  If they were so GREAT, they would have prevented The Great Depression and World War II.  Plus, it was the Greatest Generation that raised their Boomer kids with too much television and a lot of sugary breakfast cereals. So no generation is perfect.

I like the Silent Generation.  They don’t talk much.  I respect that. But they might have been kind of sneaky.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Silent Generation had all the money and has set up the Boomers to take the blame.  I have no proof of that.    I bet they could read, though, unlike Generation Alpha. And they didn’t whine. If they had whined, they wouldn’t be called the Silent Generation.

I don’t know when generations started getting named.  I can’t find any proof that generations in the 1800s had names.  I think they were too busy toiling their lives away on the farm or getting their bodies mangled in factories to worry about generational names. But I’m sure those farmers and factory workers complained about their lazy ass younger co-workers.

Some Ancient Greek named Socrates a few generations back said something about his young students being lazy and disrespectful: 

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”  Ha! Even the Ancient Greeks complained about youthful slackers… supposedly… if you believe history.

I think Socrates also told his students to get off his lawn. What a Boomer.

To be fair, Gen. Alpha might have gotten screwed from the start because of its name: Gen. Alpha.  The word ‘alpha’ has a connotation of being first or the top or the best.  Unfortunately, Gen. Alpha hasn’t earned that status.  People who think they’re alphas but aren’t are really annoying.  So now we have a bunch of kids who are categorized as ‘alphas’ but haven’t done anything to earn that status, except be obnoxious, ignorant, and uneducated (according to every other generation).

At least Gen. Alpha has finally united the Millennials and Gen. Z with the Boomers.  I never thought I’d see anything those generations would agree about.  Whenever a Boomer complains about a Gen. Zer being lazy or not being able to handle adversity, and a Millennial accuses the Boomer of putting every other generation into insurmountable debt, all generations can look at Gen. Alpha in disgust and say: “At least we’re not them.”

What do you think? Does categorizing people into generations even make sense? If so, are Gen. Alphas really worse than other generations? What is your worst Gen. Alpha story? And don’t worry about insulting Gen. Alphas; they can’t read this anyway.

*****

After more than ten years of blogging, I’ve finally written a novel.

A grammar-obsessed English teacher falls in ‘luuuvvv’ but discovers how chaotic and dangerous ‘luuuvvv’ can really be.

The Sunset Rises: A 1990s Romantic Comedy is now available on Amazon and from the trunk of my car at various local bookstores… until parking lot security kicks me out. Buy it now while supplies last!