12/11/2025
Who Are Gen Z and Gen Alpha?
Source: https://www.greenbook.org/insights/generational-insights
Gen Z includes individuals born roughly between 1997 and 2012. This group has grown up with smartphones, social media, and economic and social uncertainty. They're currently in their teens to late twenties — old enough to drive purchasing decisions, shape trends, and enter leadership roles.
Gen Alpha, on the other hand, includes those born from around 2013 to 2025. Most are still children, raised on tablets, voice assistants, and remote learning. They’ve never known a world without streaming or AI, and their worldview is heavily shaped by their Millennial and Gen Z parents.
Core Behavioral and Attitudinal Differences
Digital Fluency vs. Digital Dependency
Gen Z is fluent in technology but also skeptical of it. They curate their online identities and often seek balance between their digital and physical lives. Gen Alpha, however, is being raised in a fully immersive tech environment — interacting with AI tools before they can read and navigating platforms like YouTube Kids and Roblox before they’ve entered school.
Heather O’Shea, Chief Research Officer at Alter Agents, emphasizes the cultural impact of this early digital exposure for Gen Z: “They are a generation that has metaphorically grown up with a phone in their back pocket, which has greatly influenced their expectations and preferences across categories.”
Identity and Values
Gen Z has championed identity fluidity, mental health awareness, and social justice. They care deeply about purpose-driven brands and authenticity. “They have been online and on social media since a very young age, which drives a greater need to speak out about their values and ideals, and they hold these same expectations of brands,” says O’Shea. “In fact, 6 in 10 Gen Z social media users say they only buy from brands whose values they agree with.”
Gen Alpha is still forming its values, but early signals point to an even greater emphasis on inclusivity, environmentalism, and global consciousness — all introduced through highly visual, gamified, and interactive content.
