Social media and millennial parenting is changing the way childhoods look today. Many believe it’s really depressing. Many feel kids are so entitled now. There’s many changes to generational expectations.

1. Entitlement: On one TikTok, a mother posted that her son got an invitation to a birthday party, but when she read it, it says they have a little brother and wants her to send the brother a gift because “they didn’t want him to feel left out.” That should not be the point of other people’s birthdays. As the oldest sibling, my birthday comes first. My birthday is 6/12, my brother 12/12, and my sister 12/16. They never care if I got a present because they understand the concept of birthdays. It’s a day you were born, not them. Who cares if it’s “not fair” and why should they get something when it’s not their day? It will come, they will live. We should teach kids about patience and not giving in to their spoiled demands.
2. Materialism: On a TikTok, a girl was being bullied by her friends for having a “fake” Stanley drinking cup. When I was a kid in school, the water bottle was at the bottom of my brain lobes—no one cared about it. Not only do kids only seem to care about luxury brands but the fact her “friends” immediately started bullying her about it is wrong. Just because the cup did not have the Stanley logo at the bottom. They also know where to look for it! Not everyone has the exact same living situations, and these kids need to learn that! For example, when Silly Bandz were popular in the early 2000s, some kid’s parents couldn’t afford the official ones, they had to get the “home-brand” to join in the trend and guess what? No one cared! Silly Bandz were Silly Bandz!
3. Social Skills: Due to iPads, kids are not developing social skills. On another TikTok it was shared that at a family dinner: “My iPad niece decided to sit at a separate table for two so she had space for her iPad.” It’s like what they said about vaping: this phenomenon is new to us, so we don’t know how prolonged use is going to affect us before it’s too late. This is the first generation to be raised on iPads so we’re not going to know the consequences and be able to warn future generations until we do and that can be scary! The silent generation didn’t have technology at the table. Baby Boomers didn’t have technology at the table. Gen-X didn’t have technology at the table. Millennials didn’t have technology at the table. Some, Gen-Z didn’t have technology at the table! Not only are we enabling kids to immerse themselves in technology but what social skills, which is important for communication, are these kids going to get from this? If parents always give them a separate table for their iPad when they go out, they’ll always want to do that because they are conditioned to do that! So they’re going to throw a tantrum if you say no or they’re going to be confused. Please teach your child how to exist without the iPad.
4. Brain-Rot: Completely brain-rotted. Look, I know we had brain-rot back then like Smosh, the Gummy Bear song, Crazy Frog, Fred, Annoying Orange, ASDF Movies, Filthy Frank, MLG and YTP videos. Memes back then used to have meanings. Now, kids are watching “Italian Brain-rot” and Mr. Beast dancing sped up. This is another reason why kids shouldn’t be on the internet without supervision. Take it from Gen-Zers, we got exposed to Happy Tree Friends, Cyriak, Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, Salad Fingers, Hell On Kitty, Smile and Cupcakes HD, Shed MOV, Pencil Face, The Maze, Creepypastas, Kool-Aid Killer, Yelling Creature, Peppa Pig and the Bacon, Poochy and Panshee, and a bonus one: Henry Eats. 
5. Exposure: This is why it’s important that as a society we stop with TikToks and YouTube Shorts, and actually raise them on old, low-stimming cartoons that previous generations grew up on like Little Bear, Berenstein Bears, Dragon Tales, Miss Spider, Oswald, Blue’s Clues, Baby Einstein, Little Einsteins, Winnie the Pooh, Sarah and Duck, Pocoyo (my personal favorite), Molang, Rolie Polie Olie, Curious George, Bob the Builder, Max & Ruby, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Abadas, Thomas the Tank Engine, The Backyardigans, Dora, 64 Zoo Lane, Veggietales, Sesame Street, The Upside Down Show, Pinky Dinky Doo, LazyTown, Connie the Cow, Wonder Pets, Miffy, Wubbzy, Ni-Hao Kailan, Oobi, Rubbadubbers, Numberjacks, Mister Maker, Tiny Planets, Arthur, Clifford, Wishbone, Between the Lions, SpongeBob, etc. (My bad, I just know a lot of shows.) Showing these shows to your kid will improve their focus, regulate their emotions, get cognitive and social development, calm playing, and reduce sensory.  That is the childhood that a large majority of Gen Alpha missed out on. Raising kids on Cocomelon is a more serious problem than some parents realize. It melts their brains at the most crucial developmental stage.
6. Humbling: There’s no awkward stage during childhood for them to grow out and cringe and there’s no chances for them to just be kids for a short amount of years. Who couldn’t care less about aesthetics because most of us looked like people in MAD magazines. But we were happy that I was able to be a young kid for a little while without any cares in the world. I am so glad that there was a period in my life where I didn’t care about that. So, the fact that that doesn’t exist anymore breaks my heart. This is why they’re so many young kids today obsessed with not “being cringe”, they never had an awkward phase where they were discovering who they were, and their own style. They just copy adults, they want to be 25 when they’re actually 12.
7. Color: Color is fading with each new generation. It’s also happening at stores because stores have completely left for children and put black and grey and dull clothes out for kids to wear. Where’s the fun? Where’s the graphic designs? Where’s the funny/inspirational quotes and puns? Where’s the cartoon characters? Where are the silly patterns? Just let kids be kids for once! 
8. Technology: Damage is a trend. Even expensive stuff. Not only is technology rotting their minds, kids today are exposed to technology too young.  Technology shouldn’t be in the hands of toddlers. They do not know how to clean up after themselves or take care of such expensive luxuries yet. How is it that some people are going to look at literal toddlers and think to themselves, “Yeah, you know what? After these 11 months, I think you’ve shown me that you’re an adult-enough to use a $1,000 iPad.” When a toddler doesn’t even know how to hold a cup for themselves yet, they can’t drink milk without you. 
9. Hygiene: Skincare at a young age like 3-5 is important but not for the level it is today. Some parents now literally encourage their 5-year-old daughters to have their very own mini fridge stocked to the brim with skin care products that they stock themselves. Like, she’s still a baby! She doesn’t need this stuff for over a decade, at the very least. And if she wanted to pretend, then just give her some toys from Ross or something, not the real deal. When I was 5 -years-old, my Mom would NEVER give me a bubble skin care routine, a hydrating mask, under-pads for puffy eyes, and mysterious skin care related liquids inside of these weird Bill-Nye-looking shapes that are meant to be rolled all over your face. Because I was a kid! I was just told to brush my teeth and read a book before going to bed at night. What makes any of this so imperative now? I am just struggling to understand why this was created for any other reasons but exploitation and greed.
10. Minimalism: I just think that when younger kids are acting older than the actual kids that are actually older than them, then it’s a legitimate problem because where’s the fun and the life and the joy in their lives nowadays?  Minimalism is a trend but kids are supposed to fill their rooms with stuff they enjoy. Rooms in the early 2000s were so much cozier. I just hope that Gen-Z collectively agrees that when we all have children in the future, we’re going to keep the iPads far away from them and raise them the way they should be raised (look at number 5 again for reference).