Are the kids alright? How are they navigating cognitive overload and chaotic times? Part 1
When uncertainty rises... we find ways to cope. But what does coping look like for GenZ and Alpha generations? First, let's talk about nostalgia.
To navigate the chaos of the world lately, I’ve been doing two things: rewatching entire seasons of Bridgerton and hiring a Vedic astrologist to interpret my life path. Do whatever you need to get through the day, right?
But it got me thinking. If the weight of the world and the uncertainty of the future feels heavy for me - someone with a fully frontal-cortex-developed and a (mostly) emotionally regulated adult … what does that pressure feel like for Gen Z and Gen Alpha? As they stare straight into a future shaped by climate anxiety, economic instability, rapid AI disruption, and geopolitical tension?! Yikes!!!
When uncertainty rises, humans don’t just panic. We cope. But humans are ultimately creatures of habit and historically, we turn toward:
Nostalgia
Spirituality
Structured play
Cultural/ Identity markers
Controllable pleasures
…as ways to create stability in unstable times.
And when you zoom out, you can actually see these coping mechanisms shaping youth behavior patterns in real time. The way younger generations are consuming media, building identity, and interacting with technology isn’t random…it’s adaptive!
This matters deeply for brands and marketers. Because when generations shift how they cope, they also shift how they consume, trust, engage, and form loyalty.
Understanding these behaviors frees us from chasing trends. It a more concrete framework in understanding how younger audiences are building psychological safety in an unpredictable world.
But before we get into it - we gotta zoom out a bit on the generational cohorts and understand their perspective.
Are We All Becoming Dumb?
Over the last year, I’ve written about what I call the Gen Alpha divide and the emergence of two broad cohorts:
Hybrid Kids: Kids raised with intentional tech boundaries, parental co-viewing, offline enrichment, and more structured developmental support.
Always-On / “Brain Rot” Kids: Kids growing up in fully immersive, algorithm-driven environments where screens function as entertainment, socialization, babysitter, and educator simultaneously.
And to be clear, this divide is not just about parenting styles - it is deeply tied to economic inequality. As Andrew Yang once described, screen time increasingly functions as an “economically inferior good.” When families have fewer resources, fewer childcare options, and less access to enrichment opportunities, screens often become the most accessible and scalable form of engagement. Inversely, parents who overdo it with screen time (and that have the choice) they can even even enlisting tech detox help. These cohorts are going to become even more evident in the coming years as Alpha’s grow up.
If economic pressure continues to rise, screen reliance will increase alongside it … and of course the effects of this.
Don’t believe me? We’re already seeing the shift across GenZ (and broadly speaking I think GenZ really suffered a lot in terms of their relationship with media and screens), and GenAlpha hopefully will not fall victim to all of the same challenges.
Declining math preparedness for American. college freshmen
IQ scores are also seeing significant drops with reports that nearly 60% struggle with basic fraction division
Measurable drops in pattern recognition, reading comprehension, and analytical reasoning Some of the steepest declines appearing in 18-22 year olds
And while it’s easy to blame screens broadly, the more nuanced explanation is about cognitive overload, not just screen exposure. This cognitive overload is being cited as one of the key reasons that kids are cited to have shorter memories, worse recall, attention and regulation issues etc.
Previous media formats books, films, newspapers - required imagination, patience, and abstraction. They asked audiences to mentally fill in gaps, hold attention over time, and process layered storytelling. And funny timing, as I was writing this newsletter - Doug Shapiro posted the observation that we are in a post-literate aka “dopamine society”, he referenced this The State of Culture, 2024. Where it predicted the rise of compulsive, dopamine-seeking activity, short videos, sports gambling, clickbait headlines, music snippets, etc. Today’s media environment is exactly that.
We compress ‘entertainment and information’ into rapid, highly visual, emotionally immediate snippets (devolving into a post literate society). Instead of requiring audiences to imagine the world, it places them directly at the center of it… constantly stimulated, constantly personalized, constantly moving!
So what does this mean?
The takeaway isn’t necessarily that younger generations are less capable - but it’s that their cognitive muscles being exercised are changing. What we see is:
Pattern recognition is done at a crazy speed (blink response!)
Decision-making is becoming more reactive (instinctively by habit almost)
Knowledge acquisition is increasingly experiential and (unfortunately) flattened. Another way to say it - is there is less media literacy/ critical thinking because context is lost in the immediacy of response.
If younger audiences are growing up in environments that prioritize immediacy, personalization, and emotional response, then the organizations need to try and speak that language OR need to shift into the slower state and offer more utility and counter balance. There is really no middle ground.
Other things to consider in this framework:
Content cannot be separated from the environment/distribution, the environment/distribution must inform the content
Consideration window for a message, attention and action - is made in a snap. This means split second consideration if you don’t have trust.
Stimulation is how you get people to stop, but we have a very short consideration span to land the message,
To really endure as a brand though - I would argue you need to strive for - is ways to build environments that encourage creativity, deeper thinking, storytelling, and safe experimentation with complexity. The brands and platforms that can balance stimulation with substance will be the ones that build lasting trust with younger audiences.
Ok, so that is the foundation - which leads us to the original question to explore. How do we cope, and where and how do younger generations seek safety?
Nostalgia as Emotional Safety (And a Bridge to Escapism)
When the present feels unstable, humans look backward for stability. That’s not new.
What is new is how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are using nostalgia.
Gen Z isn’t just nostalgic for their childhood - they’re nostalgic for eras they never lived through. As explored in Slate’s analysis of “millennial cringe becoming millennial optimism” younger audiences are reclaiming earlier internet and pop culture eras as emotional comfort zones.
This shows up clearly in viewing behavior. According to Nielsens data 65% of Gen Z viewing still goes to older “library” shows like Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls etc. I’d argue these are reflexive state shows (i.e. formulaic lower the cognitive load shows with large catalogues) - and of course that in an of itself is a relief and way of escaping.
Gen Alpha Uses Nostalgia Differently
Because Gen Alpha is growing up fully inside algorithm-driven ecosystems, nostalgia functions less as memory and more a comfortable, safe, familiar lens to see the world and anchor themselves.
For them, nostalgia shows up in:
Franchise ecosystems: with easy rules and repeatable language that is spoken by that community. Being a part of fandom is a way to identify and belong! Just like back in the day we used to have ‘archetypes’ like jocks, cheerleaders etc. I’d argue that now adays fandoms are identity markers.
Persistent gaming universes: gaming environments like Roblox, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, Fortnite mirror nostalgia - they are spaces they ‘return to’, and anchors them to repeatable physics, mechanics, characters. And predictability, which is a core function of nostalgia.
Collectible and replayable toy cultures: think LEGO as a perfect example - the nostalgia framework is that this shows up in how predictable, stable and consistent it is.
Narrative worlds that provide consistent emotional rules: This is very much why GenZ loves long running shows like Greys Anatomy or Suits or New Girl etc. Which are all shows that have consistent emotional rules, characters, structure and they feel very predictable and familiar.
TLDR - GenZ uses nostalgia to reinterpret the present. It is how they build safe environments and ways to experience the world.
The marketing implication is that it’s about familiarity, emotional safety and easy participation. NOT about recreating the past. To put it VERY SIMPLY - this means- if you’re making a marketing campaign or brand to be contemporary, it would help to find ways to evoke feelings of familiarity ;) What’s old is new, as they say!
Nostalgia is almost a form of ‘escapism’ and a way to frame the world for younger generations - whereas for older generations Millenal+ would see this as a revisiting of emotional resonance. The brands and franchises that succeed for GenZ and Alpha won’t simply revive the past -they’ll build expandable emotional ecosystems that allow audiences to stay, explore, and belong. Evoking nostalgic feeling is the way to create resonance for younger generations.
{PART 2- coming soon} *sorry ran outta time this weekend. I will go over Spirituality (rise of faith, angel numbers, astrology as a way to seek understanding), Structured play (safe and casual experiences for childlike play and whimsy experiences), Cultural/ Identity markers (rise of gender and societal identity norms and markers), Controllable pleasures… hopefully next week!
📰 Headlines! Headlines!
Mark Rober’s science show for kids pulled in 12Million views on Netflix in it’s first few weeks. And a slew of Kids and Family titles pulling in a HUGE bulk of viewing on Netflix - Minions, Kpop demon hunters and more… here’s what’s working on Netflix.
Dan Kwan (Everything Everywhere All At Once) suggests that AI might render traditional filmmaking a niche medium the way radio and theatre exists today. This is one of the best takes I’ve seen so far…
Fibermaxxing is the next Proteinmaxxing? Every single restaurant chain is aggressively adding protein to their menus (even POPCORN too!). My guess is that it’s also a response to GLP-1 recommendations to increase ‘protein intake’! But ultimately, I think fibermaxxing will be the next trend.
Will “steal a brainrot” be the next Minecraft movie adaptation? I do predict more game to screen adaptations landing in the coming years… predictions again here!
As we watch the K-curve economy continue to unfold - expect more and more fast food and mass retailers find ways to move up the luxury curve and for luxury retailers to find ways to also tap into the accessible luxury trend. ex) McDonalds + Caviar, Chipotle’s new customer or coffee/little treats and luxury retailers.
Vogue reported “unplugging” is the most coveted luxury and status symbol and that GenZ is seeking out real world interaction and connection.
Prepare for a e-live shopping revolution soon. The same way home shopping channel used to be a dominant force on TVs, expect live shopping/ amazon/tiktok lives really start booming in US. Internationally and in China it’s already a trillion dollar industry.
Drunk elephant was soooo 5 years ago, make way now for 13-year old skincare mogul, Coco Granderson. Oh and of course Salish Matter too.
Now, let me leave you with this (I just love social internet-y marketing):
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