What your children are searching for on the Internet

It’s no secret that the younger generation spends a lot of time online. It’s hard to imagine today’s kids and teenagers without their smartphones and social media accounts. But do you have any idea what they’re really searching for out there in the world wide wilderness?

Our solution, Kaspersky Safe Kids, allows parents to observe their children’s virtual lives — from a discreet distance — and it also collects statistics (strictly anonymously, of course), including search queries. So what’s on the minds of the younger generation?

Today’s netkids are most interested in video content (17.25% of all queries): mostly cartoons, vlogs, and computer game streams on YouTube and Twitch. Curiously, modern kids seem to enjoy watching others play games more than playing them themselves.

Anime series also remain popular. They are particularly prominent in Japanese and Chinese-language queries.

The most popular search topics after video are translation services like Google Translate (13.59% of all queries). The younger generation doesn’t let a little thing like not knowing a language hinder their online exploration.

Another favorite topic is online communication, including photo sharing. That accounts for 9.88% of all queries in our statistics. Children are quick to embrace social networks and constantly seek the most popular of them, such as Facebook, Instagram, VKontakte, and Tumblr. Gmail is also in demand. Meanwhile, online dating services are failing to woo the younger generation, despite vlog advertising.

Many parents still fear that their not-so-little angels are really only interested in computer games and adult content. But these two “hobbies” came just fourth (9.09%) and fifth (8.59%), respectively, and their popularity has been declining.

The stats show that in 2017–2018, only 0.74% of children worldwide clicked through to porn sites (for comparison, the figure was 1.16% in 2016–2017, and 1.49% the year before that). True, both games and adult content can be found in the ubiquitously popular social networks, but we can still say for sure that they are not of primary interest to the up-and-coming generation.

Last but not least, a rare pleasant surprise for parents. Sixth place (4.86%) in the list of most popular search queries belongs to study-related topics. For example, English-speaking schoolchildren search for information about space and general science, as well as dictionaries and math teasers. Chinese children are keen on history and culture.

Want to know more about what young ones are up to online and what social media groups they’re members of? Check out our full report. The kids are all right!