Here’s what your children are searching for online these days

If you were wondering what children’s interests are, what they are searching online, and how you can ensure a positive online experience for your child, this should shed some light.

A new Kaspersky Safe Kids study has just revealed the most viewed children’s interests between March and May 2022.

The past three months boasted numerous events worth taking note of and the kids online clearly did.

These included the Oscars, various trending songs’ releases and the game, Backrooms’ comeback.

According to the Kaspersky Safe Kids’ study, children have been following all these events closely, which evidently also influenced their interests. Kaspersky has analysed anonymised data voluntarily provided by Kaspersky Safe Kids online users. The data included:

• Search queries
• The most popular Android applications
• Website categories requested

According to Anna Larkina, web content analysis expert at Kaspersky, new trends and events in popular culture have a significant impact on kids’ interests.

Events that captured children’s attention:

• Will Smith’s infamous Oscars’ slap was widely discussed throughout this period.
• Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s public defamation trial.
• Speculation about the Spiderman celebrity couple, Zendaya and Tom Holland.

Kids online also unexpectedly searched for UwU, an emoticon depicting a cute face.

READ: Non-intrusive online monitoring app protects kids and guides parents

Searches under the category of gaming included:

• The horror-related Backrooms game, which has become popular amongst children in recent months. It puts the player in an endless maze of randomly generated office rooms and includes several levels that gamers must explore.
• The game, Among Us has been trending downwards, with children almost losing all interest.

Popular search categories on YouTube included music, movies and cartoons:

• Top searches included PSY’s new music video of the track, That That, produced with and featuring BTS star, SUGA.
• The movie, Encanto’s song, We don’t talk about Bruno also trended.
• Many children’s YouTube requests were devoted to the channel, My Story Animated. This channel animates stories claimed to be real, sent to them by teenagers.
• Movies that trended in children’s online searches included The Bad Guys, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Rock Dog 2 and Heartstopper.

During the past three months, South African children were most interested in software, audio and video, e-commerce, and internet communication web categories. The most popular apps on Android locally included Whatsapp, YouTube and TikTok.

For Windows programs, Google Chrome came out tops, followed by Microsoft’s browser, Microsoft Edge and Roblox, an online game platform and game creation system.

Anna Larkina says: “Children’s passions change rapidly and for parents to better understand their little ones and build close relationships with them, it can be useful to explore their interests and hobbies together. Modern parental control apps are one way to help with this.”

How can parents ensure that their children have a positive online experience?

• Involve yourself in your child’s online activities from an early age. That ensures that it’s an established norm and you can then mentor them on online safety practices.
• Consider using parental control apps and discussing it with your child to explain how it works and why it’s needed to stay safe online.
• Talk to your child about cyber-security by utilising games and other entertaining formats.
• Communicate with your kids about online safety measures. Also try to pay attention to your own habits – do you use your smartphone at the dinner table? Remember that children learn by example and will therefore mimic your habits.
• Ask your child not to agree to any privacy settings on their own and to ask for help from you instead.
• As an adult, it is your responsibility to read all privacy agreements.