Why Gen Alpha Is the New Anxious Generation
The surprising forces driving Gen Alpha’s anxiety and a path forward.
There’s a sneaky contributor to the growing anxiety of the emerging generation—and it’s not just screen time.
If smartphones and social media are to blame for Gen Z’s 139% increase in anxiety, then why is Generation Alpha (born after 2013 and largely phone-free) also showing signs of serious anxiety?
One in 5 children in 2021 had been diagnosed with a mental, emotional, or behavioral health condition, with anxiety being most prevalent according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Recently, my Gen Alpha child and I arrived at an 18-acre baseball park for practice. The team wasn’t at their usual batting cage. I quickly pulled up the league app, found their new location, and passed the info to my 9-year-old. Problem solved. We moved on.
But embedded in small everyday moments like these between parent and child are the big story behind Gen Alpha’s anxiety.
Gen Alpha Is Growing Up in a World of Certainty Machines
Unlike their Gen Z counterparts, Gen Alpha is being raised in a world where uncertainty is engineered out of daily life:
GPS tells them exactly where to go and when they'll arrive.
Digital family calendars show every moment of every day.
Weather apps break down forecasts by the hour.
Smart speakers answer every question instantly.
Youth sports apps notify of every schedule change.
Even Gen Alpha's favorite show is full of certainty. Neuroscientist Angus Fletcher told Malcolm Gladwell that shows like Paw Patrol may be doing more harm than good. Why? Because they’re so predictable. There’s a problem, Ryder (the team lead of the Paw Patrol) gives instructions, and it’s solved perfectly. Children aren’t learning to think critically or adapt. They’re learning to expect that someone else will always have the right answer.
Predictability Today, Panic Tomorrow
The result? A generation that struggles to tolerate ambiguity, problem-solve independently, or take emotional risks. And that's where anxiety is born.
Even if Gen Alpha doesn’t wield smartphones, they’re absorbing a lifestyle designed by those who do. Parents, teachers, and caregivers—armed with devices—feed them a constant stream of clarity and direction.
We’re unintentionally raising kids to expect predictability. And when they do inevitably encounter the unpredictable—it overwhelms them.
The less uncertainty they face now, the more anxiety they’ll feel later. Particularly in a world where AI and advanced tech are making the future feel less predictable and more uncertain than ever.
Meet the SmartPlow Parent
Anxiety is often triggered by uncertainty. As Nature Reviews Neuroscience notes, the brain’s anxiety response is directly tied to how well we can tolerate the unknown. And if we’re never exposed to the unknown, we never learn how to cope.
That’s the trap Gen Alpha is falling into.
They aren’t just being helicopter-parented—they’re being certainty-parented. I call this phenomenon The Certainty Trap.
The Certainty Trap is what happens when smart devices and well-meaning adults remove small uncertainties that build emotional resilience—leaving kids unequipped to handle the ambiguity that real life demands.
Unlike the hovering helicopter parent, the SmartPlow Parent doesn’t even need to hover. Technology does the hovering. GPS, alerts, reminders, AI-generated to-do lists—every obstacle is cleared before the child even sees it.
In our pursuit of convenience, we’ve accidentally made life harder for them.
5 Ways to Help Gen Alpha Build Resilience
The good news? This is still rewritable. Gen Alpha’s mental wiring is in progress. Parents, mentors, and educators can reshape it. Here are five practical ways to help them escape The Certainty Trap and grow resilience:
Normalize “I don’t know.” Let your kids hear you say it. Let them feel the unknown—and know it won’t break them.
Ask: “How will you figure this out?” Instead of answering, invite curiosity and confidence. Growth lives in the wrestle.
Withhold the rescue. The next time your kid doesn’t know where practice is, don’t check the app. Let them ask a coach or look for clues.
Practice micro-challenges. Let them order their food. Pack their own bag. Navigate an airport. (I had my three Gen Alpha kids navigate us to our flight gate at the Atlanta airport. Slower? Yes. Worth it? Absolutely.)
Reclaim boredom. Don’t fill every silence. Boredom breeds resilience, creativity, and real-time human connection. (Afterall, human connection—not digital precision—is what calms the nervous system and builds lasting emotional strength.)
At the next practice, my Gen Alpha child couldn’t find their team again. This time, I kept my phone in my pocket and simply said, “You’ll figure it out.” Anxiety bubbled. Uncertainty lingered.
But they got resourceful. They asked. They looked. They figured it out.
We don’t need to hand our kids a perfect map. We need to hand them the belief that they can find their way. The path forward starts with connection—not control.
Because resilience doesn’t prevent anxiety. It’s what keeps us from getting stuck in it.
As a generations keynote speaker and Gen Alpha expert, Ryan Jenkins helps companies strengthen multigenerational teams and cultures through human connection. If you’d like help building Connectable teams and cultures, click here.