A NEW Kaspersky Safe Kids study has revealed what children around the world were interested in during 2020-2021. Over the past year, their interest has grown in the categories of "software, audio and video" and "e-commerce," while "Internet communication media" and "computer games" have slightly decreased. Among users of Kaspersky solutions globally, TikTok, YouTube and WhatsApp are at the top of the most popular applications. At the same time, TikTok overtook Instagram with almost double the level of popularity.

Twenty-twenty turned out to be one of the most unusual years for modern children. The pandemic has changed many common life situations across the globe, including education, meeting friends and family, recreation and entertainment. A global leader in security, Kaspersky analyzed anonymized data such as search queries, the most popular Android applications and web site categories, provided by Kaspersky Safe Kids users, to explore how the interests and needs of children have changed under the new conditions.

The most popular web site categories among children were "software, audio, video" (44.38 percent), "Internet communication media" (22.08 percent) and "computer games" (13.67 percent). Among the most popular apps, YouTube leads by a wide margin—the service remains the most popular video streaming service among children around the world. In second place is the messenger WhatsApp, and third is the social network TikTok. The top 10 also includes four games: Brawl Stars, Roblox, Among US and Minecraft.

When it comes to music tastes, alongside traditional leaders like K-pop bands BTS and BLACKPINK, singers Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Travis Scott, another musical genre, "phonk," became popular. There is also a trend toward "creative" videos—more and more requests for beats, samples and lessons on creating music in various programs began to appear at the top of the list. At the same time, TikTok remains the main musical trendsetter for children.

Cartoons account for half (50.21 percent) of all video searches by children around the world. The most popular ones are Lady Bug and Cat Noir, Gravity Falls and Peppa Pig. In second place were various TV shows—the most frequent search in English was The Voice Kids. In movies and TV series, the most popular trailers were Godzilla vs Kong, Zack Snyder's Justice League and the Disney+ series WandaVision. Netflix also continues to attract the attention of more kids—the most frequent requests via the platform were for Cobra Kai and the now iconic Stranger Things.

For video games, those trending the most with children include Minecraft (22.84 percent), Fortnite (6.73 percent), Among Us (3.80 percent), Brawl Stars (6.34 percent)—which just recently captured the attention of children and is very popular—and the much-loved Roblox game (3.82 percent). In fact, the most frequently played game in the top 10 for almost all countries is Roblox. Of all the regions, it was children from Kazakhstan who became leaders in visiting sites devoted to computer games—26.01 percent. In second place were children from the UK (19.40 percent). But we see a very different picture in India, where children hardly ever visit sites dedicated to video games from a PC (just 5.08 percent).

In Kaspersky's latest data on the Philippines, the top five (5) most popular apps and web sites for Filipino children are YouTube (29.40 percent), TikTok (14.47 percent), Messenger (13.51 percent), Roblox (8.71 percent) and Facebook (8.50 percent).

"Understanding and analyzing the interests of children on the Internet helps us to pay attention to the issue of safety. By knowing what kind of music a child listens to, who their favorite bloggers are, or what games they play, parents can strengthen their trusted relations with kids. For instance, they could film a TikTok video together. This will also let parents help their kids to protect themselves from potential hazards online," says Anna Larkina, web content analysis expert at Kaspersky.

To ensure children have a positive online experience, Kaspersky recommends that parents:

  • Learn more about your children's interests.
  • Surf and learn together. See where children spend their time online and explore how to best keep them safe.
  • Explain that sensitive information should only be shared via messengers and only with people they know in real life.
  • Consider downloading parental-control apps and discuss this topic with your child to explain how such apps work and why they need them to stay safe online.
  • Spend more time communicating with children about online safety measures. Tell your children what must not, under any circumstances, be published on the Internet and why.

Filipino parents may also consider taking advantage of security software features like Kaspersky Safe Kids included in Kaspersky Total Security. Using Kaspersky Safe Kids will allow Filipino parents to not only manage the time spent by their children on-screen, but also block access to malicious content. This feature effectively scans the contents of a web page and sends an alert to the Kaspersky Security Network.

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