Kids preferred watching videos during summer break: Report
abu dhabi — Children in the UAE preferred watching online video content during their summer break from school, with social media browsing and other activities taking a backseat.
According to a report which looked at the online activities of children across the UAE during the summer holidays, video content proved most popular with youth; with vlogs on Youtube getting lots of hits.
Kaspersky Lab’s latest report was based on statistics from the company’s Parental Control modules. The research has revealed what children watched, listened to, purchased and searched online while they weren’t at school.
The report shows anonymised statistics on websites visited from Windows PCs and Macs, and search activity on Windows PCs, Macs, Android and iOS devices from June to mid-August 2018. The stats were taken from Kaspersky Lab’s products that have the Parental Control module switched on, and from Kaspersky Safe Kids, a standalone service installed for kids’ online protection.
The research revealed that up to 28.93 per cent of the youth spent more time on Youtube — in particular, showing an increased interest in the blogger PewDiePie. They also spent time watching numerous TV series on Netflix, with younger kids preferring Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the Disney channel as well as SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons.
As for music, children used streaming services such as Spotify, Soundcloud and iTunes to listen to music, with rap being their most popular genre. The renowned rapper XXXTentacion was killed in a drive-by shooting this summer, which resulted in an increased search for information about his death. Following this, there was a peak in his music being played, with children listening to XXXTentacion more than any other artists.
More than 21 per cent of children also visited news sites more frequently, including BBC, CNN and BuzzFeed. They also spent time checking the latest updates and scores from the Fifa World Cup. Online games were also popular. However, around 1.64 per cent of children across the UAE showed a preference for the online video game Fortnite, which has overtaken PUBG as the most popular game.
Children also showed an interest in clothes and mobile devices. With regards to online stores, children preferred to visit ebay, Amazon, Aliexpress, ASOS and H&M. Of all mobile devices, kids most often showed interest in iPhone and Samsung Galaxy.
It should be noted that alongside games, video and music, children often also searched for adult-content websites. However, the estimates were quite low, reaching 0.11 per cent in total. This coupled with the fact that parents in the region who used Kasperskly Lab products could block these websites entirely and the child’s attempt to visit these
websites would be unsuccessful.
Concerns about online privacy were also seen among children this summer — a whopping 34.88 per cent were actively looking online for various Internet communication media outlets as well
as enquiring about VPN. This is the first time on record that Kaspersky Lab has reported a boost in interest on this topic among children.
“The statistics we have obtained indicate the interests of
children and teens across the UAE today. This is why we recommend using parental control products not only to block potentially dangerous content, but also to help parents stay informed about their children’s interests and passions. In our opinion, the parents’ knowledge of what their children do online should promote better family relationships, helping to encourage open dialogue and preventing more serious threats to children, such as sexting or bullying,” said Anna Larkina, web-content analysis expert at Kaspersky Lab.