Gen Z/Gen Alpha Social Media Usage Observations
I have curated these observations through conversations with my students and interactions with now-graduated students on my own social media accounts. I don’t have any data to back up these claims, so don’t go running the numbers.
For people my age, Instagram is mostly an platform to send out big announcements (engagements, pregnancies, marriages, anniversaries, travels to interesting places, etc.). People my age also use Instagram stories mostly as a way to signal political allegiances and share run-of-the-mill content about food/pets/loved ones. My students, though, seem to use this app differently.
- My students will repost one’s another’s main feed posts onto their stories, which my friends and I never did. I don’t really see the appeal; I suppose doing so could be considered to be a way to be supportive and spread the word about how nice their friend looks in their post.
- They LOVE to comment on their friends’ posts. It’s very common to see a post with hundreds of comments. Each friend will usually post 3 to 6 comments of support, spacing out their adulation into a string of compliments rooted in their friend’s breathtaking looks, killer outfit, etc. Surprisingly, the boys (usually a very mysterious and reticent breed on social media) aren’t too shy with their compliments either. Their compliments are often more subtle, rooted in emojis or singular words like “tuff” (tough) or “goat” (greatest of all time).
- They also love to archive their posts. My students are confused as to why Millienials have hundreds of posts on our feeds and wonder if we are the type to post a daily picture of our avocado toast into the main feed. I explain that we have had social media for over a decade and that over the course of time, posts add up. People my age simply keep up old posts as a memory bank of our experiences from the beginning. My students, though, will post something and archive it within a few days. A glaring sign of a Gen Z/Gen Alpha Instagram account is one that has 10 posts or fewer on their profile with dozens more posts hidden in their archives.
- Many of my students have a main account that is usually public-facing and generally wholesome as well as another account (usually referred to as a “spam” account) that is only for close friends. They’ll post content not meant for the masses on these spam accounts, such as failures, ugly pictures, gossip, etc. Some people in my generation had these secondary accounts too, but we called them “finstas” (fake instas).
Snapchat
Among people my age, Snapchat is mostly dead. I suppose our lives are too monotonous to document our lives to such an extent. The app seemed to peak for us during our college years, back when we weren’t boring adults.
Snapchat is still very much alive among Gen Z/Gen Alphas, but mostly as a daily texting/communication app. Oftentimes, when meeting someone new, they will ask one another for their Snap rather than their phone number. Students have also told me that they will just add random people from their suggested friends list, even those who go to different high schools. Some friendships (and even romances) have been formed through this practice of randomly adding friends of friends.
Just as Instagram has spam accounts, many of my students have a Close Friends story where they only send out Snaps meant for trusted allies.
I’ve been told, though, that Snap streaks (a streak is maintained through two users sending a Snap picture to each other at least once within 24 hours) are mostly outdated despite being quite popular in years past.
People my age rarely post on Facebook, with the exception of something really monumental. Facebook is definitely geared towards an older crowd, as evidenced by my older coworkers and parents of friends.
Facebook is completely dead among Gen Zs/Gen Alphas, with the exception of:
- Placating grandparents who don’t have any other social media
- Finding rides to and from college
- Selling/buying items on Facebook Marketplace
TikTok
I think the generational gap between me and my students is our usage of TikTok. I have an account, but I have never (and will never) post on it. I only use it to consume content and share videos with my friends.
Not all of my students like to make TikToks, but plenty do. My school district has been cracking down on cell phone usage in school to more of an extent than in years past, but many students still find a way to sneak off to the bathroom to film a quick video or find time during lunch/after school. These videos often involve lip-synching to songs or sounds from viral videos, which I don’t really understand. TikTok dances seem to be on the decline, but I’ll still see some teens rehearsing a dance after school in the hallways from time to time.
In terms of the content consumption, TikTok is by far the most common app. My students spend a lot of time watching TikToks, though the recent ban did curb some usage and sent some consumers to Instagram Reels. Reels usage seems to be more common among people my age, though my students will sometimes migrate over to Reels because they think the comments section on Reels is “unhinged.”
X (Twitter), BlueSky, Threads
These apps are completely irrelevant among my students, with the very rare exception of a sports fan who wants to keep up with “Sports Twitter.” I would guess that most of my students have never even heard of BlueSky, and I can almost guarantee that almost none are on Threads.
Discord
This platform is mostly popular among my students who are into video games. They’ll hop on Discord while gaming from their respective homes as a way to communicate with one another from afar.
YouTube, Twitch
YouTube is still very much alive among my students, though Twitch has its userbase too. Many of my students enjoy watching other people play video games on Twitch. eSports is a growing behemoth that might enter the mainstream sooner than most people think.
For better or worse, social media is here to stay. Despite their migrations to different platforms, I think that the current generation of social media users is pretty similar to mine. Just as I posted dumb statuses on Facebook and fired off stupid tweets on Twitter, my students are posting cringy dance videos on TikTok. Just as I threw on lighting filters on my Instagram posts in hopes of raking in a few more likes, my students are using AI software to edit out their acne scars. At the end of the day, teens are just young people who are trying to find their own identies, all while insecure in themselves and obsessed with peer comparisons. As long as we continue to educate future generations about responsible Internet usage and stay vigilant about emerging platforms, everyone might be okay in the end.
