Let's talk about skibidi skibidi Gen Alpha
Let's talk about skibidi skibidi Gen Alpha
"I'm genuinely terrified for this next generation of children."
Welcome to Gen Z Translator, where I break down trending topics on Fridays. If you’re new, you can subscribe here and follow me on Threads or X. Views my own. Happy reading!
It’s Gen Z Translator’s One Year Anniversary this week! Celebrate by telling a friend!
It finally happened to me.
When I was walking around Sephora, a pair of 11-year-olds passed me, shoving past makeup sections as they gushed, “We need to get skincare!”
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, back in January there was a tween purchasing frenzy around Drunk Elephant bronzing drops, which wiped shelves clean. Gen Z, in particular, took offense, as they didn’t see a reason why children needed to be worried about skincare yet, especially anti-aging products.
It’s easy to hate on the next generation. But people seem to be really worried about Gen Alpha.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
According to Britannica, Gen Z are those born between 1997 and 2010, while Gen Alpha were or will be born between 2010 and 2025. Of course, there’s some societal wiggle room on the cusps.
“I’m genuinely terrified for this next generation of children,” TikTok user and Gen Z-er @oliviapaige.22 said in a video about working at a summer camp. “Not only is the lingo actually terrifying, but the entitlement and genuine stupidity – and I’m sorry to call kids stupid, but like we are not smart anymore at all – is so scary.”
Olivia explained gaps in knowledge she noticed, like not being able to spell, and the “hissy fits” when children didn’t get their way. But one reoccurring theme stood out.
“The scariest part for me is watching the girls be over-consumed about what they look like all the time,” she said. “My gosh, every day it is something about looking ugly, looking fat, not having the right skincare, or forgetting her Dior lipgloss.”
Last weekend, *The Associated Press published a story titled “Young girls are using anti-aging products they see on social media. The harm is more than skin deep.” The story follows a young girl obsessed with skincare who not only damaged her skin, experiencing symptoms like redness and blistering, but her mental health, too.
“The skin care obsession offers a window into the role social media plays in the lives of today’s youth and how it shapes the ideals and insecurities of girls in particular,” Jocelyn Gecker writes.
Skibidi, skibidi, slang
Meanwhile, you can’t help but laugh in disbelief at videos like this where a Gen Alpha daughter breaks down slang with her dad. If you’ve never watched Recess Therapy, self-described as “Little kids, big questions, free advice,” I highly recommend. It’ll give you a glimpse into the next generation. And if you want to test your personal knowledge of Gen Alpha slang, take *The Associated Press’s quiz here.
Here are a few Gen Alpha “definitions,” according to @damonsharpe’s daughter. We don’t have time to get into all of them, so keep in mind there might be some flexibility to the definitions.
Sigma: good (also “alpha male”)
Skibidi: bad (although, this child described skibidi as “awesome sauce,” so maybe it’s “bad” in a good way? According to *AP, skibidi has “no inherent meaning.”)
Delulu: delusional
Rizz: romantic
Cap: not true
GOAT: greatest ever
Gyat: booty
Mogging: looking better than someone
Pookie: someone you love
SUS: something that’s weird
Ohio: loser
Mewing: trying to look good
Fanum tax: stealing
Negative aura: not cool
Tweaking: acting weird
Ate: did well
Opp: someone you don’t like
Beta: weak
Bop: a girl who just posts selfies
Podium: something really good
More summer camp staffers broke down Gen Alpha slang that confused them. “My explorer girls said that they were mewing, and I didn’t know what they were talking about,” a counselor said. “I thought they meant…like a cow?”
“There’s no way we sounded like this as kids to our parents 😭 this is insane,” one commenter said.
Comments to the video below include “this gen cooked” and “They speak in memes. It’s wild.” Someone also wrote “This generation is over Its Done,” to which the video creator replied, “It’s JUST BEGINNING😎🙌".” The word “brainrot1” was also thrown around.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Back to your regular scheduled programming
Not to forget, Gen Z is having an identity crisis of their own as they enter a largely remote workforce.
“A lot of these people were given digital marketing jobs because all the Boomers and Gen X want us to run their social media pages for them,” TikTok user Molly D’Arcy explained in a video. “Entering working in the most like technological, virtual, un-physically real reality ever – this is my experience – sometimes I’m like, do I live in reality or am I just a bot?”
Both generations share a new, unprecedented experience with digital immersion, albeit to different extents. Gen Z may have grown up with TVs and limited computer access, but Gen Alpha is growing up with a smart phone in their hand.
There’s a reason we call out “iPad babies” when we see them in the wild: It’s still shocking. The internet is already offering them content like “baby sensory fruit videos” – which is where a bunch of animated fruits dance to music on a black screen. And that’s not even to get into the legality of marketing to children as an underage audience grows.
How much will the internet influence Gen Alpha by the time they get to the workforce? As the adage goes, only time will tell.
*Transparency clause: I work on contract for The Associated Press
My weekly roundup:
🎶 What I’m Listening To: Genesis, pt. ii by RAYE
🎞️ What I’m Watching: Finished “3 Body Problem.” What do I watch now??
🔎 What I’m Reading: I FINALLY finished A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
📱 What I’m Scrolling: I need this meme to be the next big thing
⚠️ What’s On My Radar: Will Brazilian fans be okay without X?
Read the full Gen Z Dictionary here.
Brainrot: unintelligence from being on the internet for too long