A new study by global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky has revealed the most-viewed children’s interests online between March and May this year, using global data provided by its users such as search queries, popular apps, and website categories.
The past few months have been full of popular events, many of which were closely followed by children. Will Smith’s Oscars slap globally captured kids’ attention and was widely discussed. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s divorce trial, and speculation about Spider-Man celebrity couple Zendaya and Tom Holland, too, were trending pop-culture topics.
Unexpectedly, children also frequently searched for “UwU”, an emoticon depicting a cute face.
In the world of gaming, shifts include “The Backrooms”, which has become popular among children in recent months. Known as a “creepypasta” – horror-related content, usually in the form of urban legends, shared on the internet – it features an endless maze of randomly generated office rooms that players must explore.
Music is one of the most popular categories on YouTube, and the study reveals kids particularly honed in on “That That” by PSY, produced with and featuring BTS star Suga; as well as “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto”.
Children’s YouTube requests were largely devoted to the channel “My Story Animated”, which animates tales, claimed to be real, submitted by teenagers. For movies and television, the leaders were “The Bad Guys”, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, “Rock Dog 2”, and “Heartstopper”.
In terms of web categories, children were interested in software, audio and video (43.6%); internet communication (17.2%); and e-commerce (16.1%). The most popular apps on Android included YouTube (31.6%), TikTok (19%) and WhatsApp (18.3%).
For Windows programmes, in first place with a huge lead was Google Chrome (44.7%), followed by Microsoft Edge (12.6%) and messaging platform Discord (9.8%).
To ensure children have a positive online experience, here are some handy tips for parents:
- Involve yourself in your children’s online activities from an early age to make this the norm, and mentor them on online-safety practices.
- Download parental-control apps and discuss them with your child. Explain how they work and why they’re needed to stay safe online.
- Make talks about cybersecurity more enjoyable by discussing it with your child through games and other entertaining formats.
- Spend time communicating with your kids about online-safety measures, and pay attention to your own habits. Do you use your smartphone when eating or chatting? See if your kids mimic your habits – do they react in a different way when you put your phone away?
- Ask your child not to agree to any privacy settings on their own, and to ask you for help instead. Adults should get into the habit of reading all privacy agreements.