“I think there's a difference between a protest and a riot.”
On the curiosity and animosity that saw 147 children arrested last year
Every fortnight I round up the most interesting and insightful writing about British Gen Alphas (born 2010-2024) from across the internet so you can stay bang up to speed on this emerging and fascinating cohort.
This time we’re talking: national distrust, the new #girlboss and anti-tech teens. Yeah, sorry, it’s a pretty heavy one this time.
Children’s involvement in the 2024 riots
Alphas weren’t just the victims of the tragic attack in Southport last July, they were also a part of the UK-wide riots that followed. In total, 147 kids were arrested and this report finds that they were mostly motivated by curiosity (“they were curious to see what was happening, thought it looked fun”) and animosity towards the police, (“many spoke strongly about their hatred of the police, describing previous bad experiences and community mistrust.”) A recent study, which I covered here, suggests Gen Alpha is more concerned about personal issues like safety, employment, and the cost-of-living crisis, rather than their parents’ more global concerns. And there are plenty of causes for concern in the UK right now.
2025 Edelman Trust Barometer Global Report
By Edelman
In 2024, when these riots were happening, the UK sat, at 39%, alongside Japan and Argentina in dead last on Edelman’s Trust Index (the average trust in business, government, media & NGOs.) Trust has risen slightly to 43% in this year's edition, but ours is still the third least trusting country of the 28 surveyed. This is the climate in which Alphas are being raised; trust is low and fear of prejudice, discrimination, or racism is growing (+11pp YoY) Alphas aren’t in the Edelman sample, but adults’ outlook for them is bleak - compared to today, just 17% of Brits believe the next generation will be better off than they are. That’s below the 36% global average and the 20% found in most developed countries.
The Simplest Way to Get More Girls to Become Entrepreneurs, According to a Study of 750,000+ Teens
By Jessica Stillman for Inc
In a big F-U to Zuck’s call for more “masculine energy” this study finds that exposure to entrepreneurs—within their own or friends’ families—significantly boosts girls' chances of becoming entrepreneurs. It also notes that the businesses of female entrepreneurs who had early exposure to other entrepreneurs - they identify the teen years as crucial - also outperformed those of female entrepreneurs who did not. It’ll be interesting to see where female Alphas settle on the spectrum of #girlboss to #tradwife that they’ve inherited from their Gen Y and Z elders.
Is it time to make introversion uncool again?
By Serena Smith for Dazed
This is something I often think about - usually after someone flakes on me last minute and I’m either quietly pleased or bitterly disappointed. It goes both ways. But, as this piece explains, the upward trend of performed introversion is real, the impact of this increasing loneliness is now well established and - to add my own thoughts now - surely, by the time most Alphas reach adulthood the pendulum will have swung back in the direction of socialising? I sure hope so.
Now in College, Luddite Teens Still Don’t Want Your Likes
By Alex Vadukul for New York Times
In this piece, Vadukul revisits the now-college-aged members of the anti-tech group The Luddite Club, that he first profiled in 2022. He discovers that their sentiments have, for the most part, held strong, even if the practicalities of modern life in higher education have forced a few to own smartphones. There are some frankly haunting quotes in here.
“Like other iPad kids, I found myself from the age of 10 longing to be famous on apps like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. My phone kept the curated lives of my peers with me wherever I went, following me to the dinner table, to the bus stop, and finally to my bed where I fell asleep groggy and irritable, often at late hours in the night, clutching my device.”
I looked around for a UK-version of The Luddite Club, but a five-day digital detox in Salford isn’t quite the same thing, is it? And, of course, the last place I should be able to find out about anti-tech teens is online - but if you know of any young Brits collectively shunning social media, please let me know.