My 11-year-old nephew hasn't posted on Instagram in six months. Not because he's grounded. Not because his parents took his phone away. He's just... not interested. Instead, he spends three hours after school building virtual storefronts in Roblox with kids from Singapore and Brazil. When I asked him why he doesn't post anymore, he shrugged. "Instagram's for old people." Well thanks, dude!
That conversation came rushing back when I heard Gary Vee mention that Gen Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2025) is disconnecting from social media at an "alarming" rate. My first instinct as a marketer was panic: How am I going to reach them? But the more I sat with it, the more I realized I was asking the wrong question.
They're not leaving digital spaces. They're just rejecting our version of them.
The Quiet Rebellion
Here's what stopped me cold: only 5% of Gen Alpha kids say social media is the most important part of their lives. Nearly half don't use traditional social platforms at all. The number using social media to "kill time" has dropped 11% since 2021. Sure age does play a part, but I think it is deeper than this.
Two-thirds of Gen Alpha ages 8-10 spend up to four hours a day on digital platforms. They're not unplugging. They're relocating. It's like watching an entire generation quietly walk out the back door while we're still shouting marketing messages through the front.
Where are they going? Roblox, for one. Users logged 22 billion hours on the platform in Q4 2024 alone (up 30% from the year before). But calling Roblox a game misses the point entirely.
Remember Ready Player One? Ernest Cline's vision of the OASIS (a virtual universe where people work, play, shop, and socialize) felt like science fiction when the book came out in 2011. We're not quite there yet, but Roblox is the closest thing Gen Alpha has to their own version of it. It's where they hang out after school, show off their style, discover new music, attend virtual concerts, and yes (find brands they actually care about). It's their mall, their skate park, their group chat, all rolled into one. The difference? They're not escaping a dystopian reality. They're just choosing a digital space that feels more authentic than Instagram.
Then there's Discord, where communities form around shared obsessions (specific games, art styles, even homework help). These aren't public-facing profiles where you perform for an audience. They're digital clubhouses where you just... exist with people who get you.
And they're experimenting with AI tools in ways that would make most millennials' heads spin. A 9-year-old uses ChatGPT to brainstorm Halloween costume ideas. A 12-year-old generates custom artwork for her Discord server using MidJourney. They don't see AI as futuristic. It's just another tool in the creative toolkit, like markers or Minecraft.
What They're Really Running From
Picture the social media experience through Gen Alpha eyes. They've watched older siblings get cancelled. They've seen influencers fake their entire lives. They grew up during COVID lockdowns, faces pressed to screens for school, friends, everything (and came out the other side knowing what screen fatigue actually feels like in your bones).
They're not naive about the internet. They're wary of it.
Instagram's highlight reel culture? Exhausting. TikTok's performative dance-offs? Not their vibe. They want spaces where they can mess around, create weird stuff, fail spectacularly, and not have it follow them forever. They want community built on what you make and who you are, not how many followers validate you.
One researcher called it "healthy caution," but I think it's more than that. It's wisdom. Gen Alpha watched millennials and Gen Z learn painful lessons about social media, and they're saying: Thanks, but we'll pass.
What Marketers Get Wrong (And What We Should Do Instead)
Here's where most brands are screwing up: we're still showing up with the old playbook. Run Instagram ads. Partner with influencers. Post consistently. Build followers.
Gen Alpha doesn't care about any of that.
What does work? Creating actual value in the spaces where they already live. Look at what Chipotle did in Roblox (they built a game where you make and deliver burritos, earning exclusive items along the way). Over 4 million people played it. Why? Because it was fun. It wasn't dressed-up advertising. It was just a good experience that happened to feature burritos.
Or e.l.f. Cosmetics, which created a virtual beauty studio in Roblox where users could try on makeup, earn rewards, and shop real products (all while hanging out with friends). The experience drove both in-game engagement and real-world sales because it understood a fundamental truth: Gen Alpha shops where they socialize.
The shift required isn't tactical. It's philosophical. Stop interrupting. Start participating. Here's what that actually looks like:
Build worlds, not ads. Gen Alpha doesn't want to see your brand. They want to experience it. That means creating interactive spaces (whether it's a Roblox game, a Discord community, or something we haven't imagined yet) where your brand adds genuine value to their digital life.
Empower their creativity. This generation creates constantly. They're making Minecraft worlds, designing Roblox outfits, editing videos, generating AI art. Smart brands give them tools to create with the brand, not just content about the brand. Think templates, building blocks, collaborative projects.
Meet them where they're learning. Gen Alpha is already using AI for homework, art projects, and problem-solving. Forward-thinking brands are exploring how to show up in these AI-native spaces (not with ads, but as genuinely helpful resources that understand how this generation learns and creates).
The Real Opportunity
Gary Vee called out this shift. It's a reset in my eyes. A chance to stop doing social media marketing the way we've always done it and start building something better.
Gen Alpha is trading performance for participation. Followers for friends. Consumption for creation. They're not rejecting connection—they're demanding it be real.
The brands that win with this generation won't have the biggest budgets or the most Instagram followers. They'll be the ones brave enough to leave the traditional social platforms behind and show up authentically in Roblox servers, Discord communities, and whatever comes next.
My nephew is still online for hours every day. He's just not where we're looking for him. And honestly? He's probably having a better time than we did at his age, doom-scrolling feeds full of people we barely knew.
Maybe Gen Alpha isn't the problem. Maybe we are.
The question isn't how to reach them. It's whether we're willing to follow them to where the real connection is happening (and leave our old assumptions about "social media marketing" behind). I won’t lie, I am kinda pumped for this new channel to reach a new generation.