Generation Alpha, Gen Z and the Great Social Media Mistake
Why Outright Banning Isn’t the Answer
In an era where books meet BookTok and libraries compete with livestreams, the conversation about how young people engage with content, not if they do, has never been more urgent.
Recent moves in places like Australia to ban social media for young people are being framed as a way to protect mental health, reduce distraction, and return kids to "real learning." But what if we're getting it all wrong?
What if social media isn’t the enemy of literacy, but its unlikely fuel?
A New Generation, A New Way of Learning
Meet Generation Alpha, kids born from 2010 onwards, raised on iPads, voice assistants, remote learning, and augmented realities. They're the younger siblings of Gen Z, and they’re not just digital natives, they’re digital naturals.
Unlike any generation before, Alpha doesn’t remember a pre-pandemic, pre-AI world. They switch between screens like gears on a bike, engage directly with creators, and ask Alexa to explain their science homework.
And they’re deeply aware, of misinformation, deepfakes, and the permanence of their digital footprints.
Social Media: Not the Problem, but the Portal
Generation Z is already showing us the potential here. Take Indonesia, long challenged by low reading interest, where Gen Z is now leading a surprising revival. Attendance is up at book fairs. Indie bookstores are bustling. Reading clubs, once niche, are now trending, thanks, in large part, to BookTok and Bookstagram.
In fact, national literacy indices are rising, and social media is playing a critical role. It’s not eroding reading, it’s reshaping it.
Why? Because BookTok isn’t just about pretty covers. It’s about authentic, emotional, shared reading experiences. It’s community. It’s relevance. And it’s exactly what Gen Z, and soon Alpha, craves.
The Ban That May Backfire
Banning social media may feel like a shortcut to solving problems we fear, addiction, distraction, low attention spans, but it ignores the emerging reality: digital spaces are where literacy is being reborn.
Disconnecting young people from social media is like locking them out of the library. Or worse, locking the doors on a generation that has finally found their way in.
If we want to foster digital wellness and deep literacy, we need integration, not isolation. We need to teach media literacy, support edufiction (stories that teach as they entertain), and ensure equitable access to content both online and offline.
Because when we demonise the digital, we not only dismiss their world, we disengage them from ours.
Time to Rethink Our Role
Instead of bans, what if we built bridges?
Encourage kids to analyse trends and narratives.
Make BookTok part of school reading lists.
Support libraries as hybrid spaces, offering both print books and content creation labs.
Engage Gen Alpha with stories that reflect their world, their questions, and their tech.
Whether you’re a parent, librarian, or policymaker, now is the time to stop asking how do we shut them out and start asking how do we meet them where they are?
Because the truth is: Gen Z and Gen Alpha aren’t abandoning books.
They’re just reading them differently.
And that’s not a threat.
It’s embracing a future that is already here.
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