Gen Alpha Is in Its Tablet Era

Download our latest Gen Alpha report to learn more about the youngest generation’s media and entertainment habits.

If Gen Z was the first digitally native generation, Gen Alpha — comprised of children born from 2013 onward — is on track to be the first to come of age alongside advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and virtual reality. 

Morning Consult data featured in our new Gen Alpha report, which pulls from several surveys of parents with children under 11 and under 18, offers insight into the state of adolescent technology immersion today. 

Tablets are decidedly the dominant digital presence in Alphas lives in 2024: 49% of the cohort already owns such a device, with handheld (30%) and standard (26%) gaming consoles being the next most-possessed items. 

However, smartphone ownership rates eclipse tablets as children become teenagers, calling the latter’s staying power into question. Regardless, organizations looking to build long-term connections with Gen Alphas should start closely monitoring their digital behavior patterns, as any shifts will likely happen faster than ever before. 

Totally tablet 

Alphas’ tablet possession is unique in that it does not differ notably across parental household income bands like most other tested technologies do. The only additional device for which this is true is smartphones, suggesting these pieces of hardware are essential to today’s youth experience.

That said, tablets get introduced far earlier than smartphones. Forty-one percent of Gen Alpha parents said their youngest child received a tablet before age 4, while just 15% said the same of smartphones. This result also holds among parents of older children (ages 13-18), for whom smartphones are currently the second-most owned device. 

The down-ballot picture for true Alphas (ages 11 and under), meanwhile, looks slightly different. Gaming consoles occupy much of the generation’s tech stack beyond tablets. This reflects their broader interests: Video games are one of the leisure activities that Alphas’ spend the most time engaging in daily, just behind reading and watching content on streaming platforms. 

Of course, gaming is a favorite pastime of Alphas’ older peers, Gen Z — and brands of all brows, from high to low, have been active within popular titles (and their adjacent chat rooms) for years now as part of efforts to court them. Morning Consult’s data shows that video game involvement is even higher among children ages 13-18, indicating the hobby’s appeal is poised for growth while Gen Alphas move through adolescence. 

Organizations with robust and well-resourced gaming outreach strategies will be best positioned to capture attention in these channels as they get more crowded moving forward. And some Gen Z-favorite brands like E.l.f. Cosmetics and Fenty are already demonstrating this, making inroads with Gen Alpha by carrying their existing gaming investments over to prominent tween titles such as Roblox. 

Eyes on entertainment 

Though gaming apparatuses are clearly popular with Gen Alpha, they still sit behind tablets in several important ways, including when it comes to gameplay itself. Thirty-nine percent of Gen Alpha parents said their youngest child uses tablets to play video games, the most among nine tested platforms. 

Mobile came in just behind tablets as another one of the cohort’s gaming destinations — good news for organizations looking to remain connected with Alphas in these spaces as they age and become smartphone owners in larger numbers. 

But tablets’ current salience with the young generation extends beyond gaming. The devices are also Alpha’s second-most preferred way to stream movies, according to their parents. 

Gadget growth 

Gen Alphas are still very young, meaning tablets have a yearslong runway of relevancy with this group before smartphones become the mode du jour. This is especially true considering Gen Alpha parents hold a generally positive view of digital learning, one of the most prominent out-of-home applications for tablets. 

Still, the potential of virtual reality and other more nascent technologies shouldn’t be discounted. Previous Morning Consult research shows Gen Z and millennials are most excited about and interested in using these kinds of innovations — a mindset that Gen Alpha will likely embrace more intensely as they come of age while these advanced technologies mature. We’re seeing some of this happen already: 12% of Alphas already have a VR headset. 

Growing adoption among Gen Alpha is crucial for companies like Meta and Apple in their ongoing quest to make the metaverse a mainstream success. But Alphas’ influence won’t be limited to the tech sector. As with every young generation, their stamp of approval will be coveted by any brand aiming for cultural resonance. 

Alphas are already heavy device owners, they’re already deeply digital and they’re already driving consumer trends. By recognizing this and investing accordingly, brands can start to build meaningful, consistent dialogue with Alphas — both now and as they continue to grow and their habits evolve — which may eventually result in loyalty.