A poll of gen alpha (aged 12-15) from 2024 asked about job aspirations:

  YouTuber (32%)
  TikTok creator (21%)
  Doctor/nurse (20%)
  Mobile app/video game developer (19%)
  Entrepreneur (17%)
  Artist (16%)
  Sports athlete (15%)
  Professional online streamer (15%)
  Musician (14%)
  Teacher (14%)

▲ flipbrad 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Something so grim should be accompanied by its citation, just so we can check it's not a windup

▲ culi 12 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I didn't wanna cite the Fortune article I got it from because it cited research from a group called "Whop" that didn't have the full data available. But here's the article I read

https://fortune.com/article/gen-alpha-dream-careers-youtuber...

EDIT: now that I'm looking more into it, I think this YouGov poll was the original source https://today.yougov.com/technology/articles/39997-influence...

I do vaguely recall a more serious study showing a vast majority of kids thinking "influencer" was a viable career path and a very large portion beleiving it was the only viable career path for them. It also found that these percentages were higher in boys than in girls. That's the study I was trying to find but failed and found this instead

▲ xnorswap 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

two decades ago it would have been:

  1. Movie Star / Actor
  2. TV Star / entertainer

Youtube / tiktok are just the equivalent for that age in this day & age.

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Zetaphor 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

One interesting difference is influencer is plausible for a significantly larger population of youth than their legacy equivalents ever were

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culi 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This is probably true and I would be really interested to see a longer-running study with a consistent methodology taking this on

	▲	ctoth 9 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Consider a prompt like this to a Deep Research agent if you are interested: How have youth career aspirations toward entertainment/fame-oriented careers changed over time (1960s-present), and does the rise of "influencer" represent a genuine shift or category substitution? \"Specific sub-questions\": 1. What longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional surveys have asked children/teens about career aspirations with consistent methodology? 2. What were the historical rates for "actor/entertainer/movie star" type responses in surveys from 1970-2000? 3. How do current "influencer/YouTuber" rates compare when aggregated with traditional entertainment categories? 4. Are there international comparison studies showing different rates by country? 5. Is there evidence for changing perceived accessibility of fame careers (kids thinking it's actually achievable vs. fantasy)? \"Priority sources\": Academic journals (Journal of Career Development, Journal of Vocational Behavior), Gallup historical archives, Pew Research, YouGov archives, OECD education reports, Harris polls historical data. \"Methodological notes\": Flag when studies use different age ranges, different question framings (open-ended vs. multiple choice), and whether "entertainment" categories were offered or emerged organically. I ran this for you and got some really interesting results[0] (TLDR: Young people have traded the stability of the "Company Man" for the autonomy of the "Personal Brand" in response to a labor market that no longer guarantees security. [0]: https://gemini.google.com/share/3652b7910d8b

▲ senorrib 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’d argue those aren’t really because of the social aspects of Youtube or TikTok.

▲ api 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If you asked similar age groups this question in the 1990s you’d get stuff like rock star, actor/actress, and pro athlete.

Young kids usually have career aspirations that mirror what’s popular in their media world. It means little.