Born in 2018
Generation Alpha
2013–2025 · Gen Alpha, iPad Kids, the AI generation
If you were born in 2018, you are Generation Alpha — the generation born from 2013 onward. In 2025, that makes you 7 years old.
In August 2018, 15-year-old Greta Thunberg sat outside the Swedish parliament with a handmade sign, beginning the school strike for climate that would grow into a global movement. TikTok merged with Musical.ly and went fully global — instantly becoming one of the fastest-growing social platforms in history. And Fortnite, the battle royale game, reached 125 million players in its first year, reshaping gaming culture and spawning a generation of young people who could do the "floss" dance. You were born at the moment the climate movement found its young voice and the attention economy found its most powerful new tool.
Your Cohort Within Gen X
What's different about being born in 2018 specifically
All Gen Xers share a broad generational identity, but birth year matters. The events you experienced at particular ages shaped you differently from someone born five years earlier or later in the same generation.
- Greta Thunberg began her climate strike their birth year — grew up with youth climate activism as normal
- TikTok went global their year — short-form video was their native entertainment format from infancy
- Were 2 during COVID-19 — toddler stage, minimal lasting impact from pandemic measures
- Fortnite defined the gaming culture of their childhood
- Will be the first generation to go through school with AI tutors from the very first year
Generation Profile
Generation X — The Full Picture
Gen Alpha is the first generation for whom climate activism is not a choice but an inheritance. The school strike movement that Greta Thunberg started in 2018 has shaped the cultural atmosphere of Gen Alpha's childhood — the message that young people are inheriting a crisis they didn't create but must navigate has been a feature of their world from the beginning.
The gaming world Gen Alpha inhabits is fundamentally different from the one previous generations played in. Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, and their successors are not just entertainment. They are social platforms, creative tools, economic ecosystems, and primary spaces of peer interaction for many Gen Alpha children. The skills developed in these environments — collaboration, rapid problem-solving, spatial reasoning, creative design — are not separable from the entertainment value. Play and learning have become less distinct.
At 7 years old in 2025, the oldest Gen Alphas are just beginning primary school in many countries. Their educational experience is the first to be shaped from the beginning by the assumption that AI tools are available, that personalised learning technology exists, and that the skills of the future — adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, collaboration — are as important as the skills of the past.
Historical Context
Six things that happened the year you were born
The world you entered in 2018.
Greta Thunberg's School Strike — August 20
Fifteen-year-old Greta Thunberg sat outside the Swedish parliament with a sign reading "Skolstrejk för klimatet" (School Strike for Climate). By September 2019 her movement had inspired 7.6 million people to strike globally. For Gen Alpha born in 2018, youth climate activism is simply a feature of the world — a form of political participation that young people have always done.
TikTok Goes Global — August
TikTok merged with Musical.ly and launched globally, immediately growing to hundreds of millions of users. Its algorithm — which showed you content based on engagement rather than your social network — was more powerful than any previous platform at capturing and sustaining attention. For Gen Alpha, TikTok is not a new phenomenon they adopted. It's been part of the entertainment landscape their whole lives.
Fortnite Reaches 125 Million Players
Epic Games' Fortnite had 125 million registered players a year after launch. The game combined battle royale gameplay with a creative mode, regular content updates, and cultural collaborations. For Gen Alpha, Fortnite's influence on dance, slang, gaming culture, and social interaction is foundational — it's the game that defined their older siblings and cousins, and then them.
CRISPR Gene Editing Advances
CRISPR gene editing technology — allowing precise modification of DNA — continued its rapid development in 2018. The first human gene-edited babies were controversially announced in China. For Gen Alpha, genetic medicine, gene therapy, and the ethical questions around genetic modification are childhood-era developments, not future speculations.
IPCC Special Report — October
The IPCC released a special report warning that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require "unprecedented" changes in all aspects of society by 2030. For Gen Alpha born in 2018, 2030 is their early adolescence. The urgency of the climate timeline is not abstract — it's their timeline.
AI Enters Mainstream Creativity
AI-generated art, music, and text began appearing in mainstream contexts in 2018. The tools that would eventually produce ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Midjourney were in active development. For Gen Alpha, AI-generated content is not a novelty they've had to adapt to. It's been part of the creative landscape their whole lives.
Culture in 2018
What people were watching, listening to, and talking about
The music, films, television, and sport of the year you were born.
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Your Generational Story
What it actually meant to be born in 2018
Greta Thunberg started her climate strike the year you were born. At 7, you're too young to have any memory of that moment, but you're growing up in the world it helped create — one where youth climate activism is normal, where the urgency of environmental action is a feature of the conversation your parents and teachers are having, and where the Paris Agreement's 2030 targets are dates that fall within your childhood and adolescence.
TikTok went global the year you were born. The algorithm-driven, short-form video format that it pioneered is the primary entertainment medium of your childhood. You haven't watched it develop — it was already there, already dominant, already the thing your older siblings and cousins were using, by the time you were old enough to have preferences.
You were 2 during COVID-19 — young enough that the pandemic is part of family story more than personal memory. The lockdowns, the masks, the school closures that disrupted older children's education — you were at an age where the resilience of early childhood meant the disruption, while real, was more recoverable.
At 7 in 2025, you are in the early years of school. The world is being introduced to you in the form of letters, numbers, stories, friendships, and — increasingly — AI tools that are part of the classroom from the very beginning. What you make of all of that is the most interesting question of the next decade.
Common Questions
Questions about being born in 2018
What generation is someone born in 2018?
Generation Alpha, born from approximately 2013 onward. Someone born in 2018 is 7 years old in 2025.
How old is someone born in 2018 in 2025?
7 years old in 2025.
Is 2018 Gen Z or Gen Alpha?
Generation Alpha. Gen Z ends in 2012. 2018 is six years into Generation Alpha.
What are the defining features of Gen Alpha children born in 2018?
They were born the year Greta Thunberg started her climate strike and TikTok went global. They were 2 during COVID-19 (minimal lasting impact). They are growing up with AI as a normal educational tool, with short-form video as their primary entertainment format, and with climate change as an accelerating present reality. Their entire schooling will be shaped by the assumption that AI tools are available.
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