Welcome to the world, Waylon.
On Wednesday, Jan. 1, parents Annabelle and Ben Craig welcomed a child into their family; Bloomington’s first baby of 2025. The healthy 6-pound, 1-ounce baby was delivered at Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital on Wednesday evening.
Waylon Craig was welcomed into the world by parents Annabelle and Ben Craig on Jan. 1, 2025, at IU Health Bloomington. Waylon is the first child born at IU Health Bloomington Hospital in 2025.
Waylon is not only Bloomington’s first baby of 2025, but Bloomington’s first to belong to “Generation Beta,” or “Gen Beta,” a new generation of people born between 2025 and 2039.
A new generation: Welcome Gen Beta: A new generation of humanity starts in 2025
Here’s a look at some of the challenges, milestones and life events that Waylon and fellow Gen Beta members can expect to live through in their lifetime.
Gen Beta will be an “AI-native” generation
The past few years have seen explosive growth for language-based artificial intelligence (AI) models and their use in our everyday lives. Members of Gen Beta will grow up with AI as part of their everyday lives.
Gen Beta will likely grow up with more personalized education that’s less focused on rote memorization thanks to AI. They’ll also likely grow up more in online/digital spaces, learning how to socialize or learn life skills from AI language models. AI will also reshape Gen Beta’s job market in ways we can’t imagine, yet.
Gen Beta may see a man land on Mars
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024. The rocket is carrying 21 Starlink satellites, 13 with Direct-to-Cell capability. This is the final launch of 2024 from the Space Coast. Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY via USA TODAY NETWORK
It’s been a long-held dream of the Elon Musk-owned company SpaceX to successfully land people on Mars, and eventually, explore multi-planetary life.
In September 2024, Musk said uncrewed flights will be sent to Mars in 2026. If those go well, Musk said crewed flights to Mars could happen in the next four years.
Musk has previously said on X (formerly Twitter) that if flights continue to be successful, he hopes to build a “self-sustaining city” in the next 20 years.
Gen Beta will celebrate the United States’ 300th birthday
Flags fly at half-staff at the Washington Monument on the National Mall following the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in Washington, U.S., December 30, 2024.
Walyon’s generation will be in their late 30s to early 50s for the United States’ tricentennial in 2076, celebrating 300 years since the country’s 1776 founding.
The U.S.’ bicentennial in 1976 involved a series of celebrations including elaborate firework displays in Washington, D.C., historical reenactments in New England, and special bicentennial quarter and half dollar coins that today can run hundreds to thousands of dollars.
Gen Beta will grow up in the most diverse generation to date
Across the U.S., and around the world, populations are expected to grow more racially diverse in coming decades, with the U.S. expected to become “minority white” by 2045.
The number of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ also has increased steadily in recent decades, meaning Gen Beta will likely be more gender and sexuality diverse than previous generations.
Gen Beta will have (much) hotter summers
Nathaniel Robertson walks back to his car after fishing and braving the triple-digit warmth as the sun sets over Lake Pflugerville on Monday evening June 26, 2023.
Summers are expected to get a lot hotter, with 107 million Americans experiencing “extremely dangerous” heat (a heat index above 125 degrees) by 2053.
A “extreme heat belt” stretching from east Texas to the Great Lakes is expected to produce several “extreme heat” days each summer by 2045. In 2023, approximately 50 U.S. counties experienced temperatures at or above 125 degrees. By 2053, that’s expected to jump to 1,023 counties.
Gen Beta will see Indianapolis grow, Indiana shrink in population
Fall colors begin to pop around the Indianapolis skyline from the crown at Crown Hill Cemetery on Sunday, October, 21, 2024 in Indianapolis.
Indiana is expected to have slowed population growth in the next several decades, with the population only growing by 5.6% between 2020 and 2060.
According to the Indiana Business Research Center’s senior demographer Matt Kinghorn, Indiana’s population will grow less in those four decades than the state did in just one decade, between 2000 to 2010. This will be due largely to a combination of a growing aging population and a slowing birth rate.
For the 5.6% of Indiana’s population that does grow, almost all of it is expected to come from the Indianapolis metro region.
The Indianapolis area is expected to add more than 400,000 residents by 2050, a 19.3% increase from 2020. Marion County is expected to finally surpass a 1 million population mark, and the surrounding counties of Hamilton, Boone, Hendricks and Johnson counties will each grow by at least 25% in the next few decades.
Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com. Follow him on Twitter/X at @brianwritesnews.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: First 2025 baby at IU Health Bloomington part of new Generation Beta