What do children watch on the Internet?
It’s no secret that the younger generation spends a lot of time on the Internet. It is even difficult to imagine modern children and teenagers without smartphones and accounts on social networks. But what do they most often look for in the vastness of the world wide web, what worries the younger generation?
The child must be able to properly use such a powerful tool as the Internet in order not to face unpleasant situations, and adults need to provide them with kid monitoring and support, and if needed should apply app time limit.
First of all, you need to assess the readiness of the child to use Internet access on their own. The younger the child, the more control adults should have over the content viewed by the child. Therefore, the “parental control for internet” application is required on all devices used by the child.
The monitoring app allows you to secure your family from unwanted sites and limit the screen time spent on the Internet.
The so-called “child filter” allows you to make the Internet a safe kid’s place. A distinctive feature of the kid’s mode is that the guardian parent can monitor the kids and decide where to put the child lock.
Talk to your child before going online
The main mistake is to think that children are sitting on some other Internet. Therefore, before introducing a child to the global network, it is worth saying all the pros and cons. Tell your kid about what he can expect there and what he may encounter. As they say, forewarned is forearmed.
Drawing rough parallels, you can compare the Internet with any other tool that we use in life. Electricity is deadly if used carelessly, but instead of completely switching to candles and gas after the birth of a child, we explain to our kids how to behave correctly so that electricity benefits them, not harm them. And we put plugs in the sockets as a simple kid guard.
Likewise with the Internet. When you begin to acquaint your child with computer and Internet technologies, begin to explain elementary safety rules.
Education and child monitoring is the most important factors for protecting him from the possible harmful effects of information technology. But just like with electrical sockets, for complete peace of mind, you need a technical tool that will ensure the safety of the child, even if the baby is “playing too much” and there are no adults around.
The most popular children’s search terms
1. Video
As it turned out, the most frequent request on the web is video content (17.25% of all requests). Moreover, they are looking primarily not for videos of spicy content, but for cartoons, video blogs, and broadcasts of computer games. Watching someone else go through the game is even more fun for many kids today than playing it themselves. Anime series are still popular. They occupy a prominent place, among the requests.
2. Social networks
Another top topic is an online communication and photo sharing. Its share in the statistics was 13.59% of all queries. Children actively master social networks, namely: Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. In demand, as it turned out, also is Google-mail.
3. Transfers
Foreign languages, according to statistics, interest children no less than their parents. But the younger generation does not want to teach but immediately translate. Therefore, after social networks, children are looking for services such as Google Translate (9.88% of all queries).
4. Games
Of course, the headache of parents – the interest of children in computer games, has not gone away. But in the ranking, these hobbies took only the fourth line (9.09% of all queries), and their popularity is declining over time.
5. “Adult Content”
It is safe to say that this is far from the primary request for the younger generation. In the rating, it occupies only the fifth line – 8.59% followed the link to “adult” sites.
6. I want to study!
Yes, and it can be! In the list of the most popular search queries, the study was in sixth place (4.86% of all queries). Truly, schoolchildren are primarily interested in ready-made homework. Students are also excited about math games, space, dictionaries, and science in general.
Internet, children, and parents
Children are at high risk for the problem of security in the global network and in need of user control. This is due to the high Internet activity of children and the lack of time control, as well as the low awareness of parents about the dangers of the Internet environment. With a number of problems that arise online, children, due to inexperience, can be difficult to deal with alone. That’s why you should use web control.
If you want to limit your child’s screen time on the Internet, you should do it gradually. Of course, this will not cause a lot of enthusiasm – because the children want to surf the internet. You should not treat child phone as a global problem, but safe control is needed anyways. Try to explain that you understand that he likes to be on the phone, but this restriction is necessary to protect children.
And while you limit game apps time, you can involve the child in mutual activities, for example, going to the park, cooking something tasty together, or asking for help cleaning the house. It’s great if children have their own house chores, it will make them more responsible, and independent, and will help in their future life.
It is important to be open to your child, to be a support and back him up so that he knows that he has relatives whom he can always turn to. Participate in his life, be interested in how he is doing, look for common ground, and be an example for him. Of course, if mom or dad is on the Internet all day long, what can you demand from a child?
If you live a full and interesting life and have hobbies yourself, then there is an opportunity to become a positive role model for a child. After all, we are surrounded not only by the Internet.
