I HAVE heard a great deal of concern from parents that their children’s screen time has increased because of the Covid-19 pandemic. I have experienced the same thing with my 12-year-old boy Marcus. In the beginning, I would always emphasize the negative effects of playing computer games and the like. Later on, after my son was adamant to use various facts and ways to “enlighten” his mom, I began to be more open. Let me share how I transformed my view and even now use screen time as one of my socio-emotional learning (SEL) tools in dealing with children.
I realized the first step is information and the second is protection. New data from cybersecurity specialist Kaspersky revealed that Filipino children are extremely interested in video content right now. Statistics from the company show that the top five applications young Pinoy kids are spending time most on are YouTube (26.46 percent), TikTok (16.75 percent), Facebook Messenger (16.07 percent), the popular game Roblox (13.67 percent), and Facebook (9.11 percent).
Kaspersky reviewed anonymized data such as search queries, the most popular Android applications and web site categories provided voluntarily by Kaspersky Safe Kids users to explore the most popular children’s interests between January to March 2022.
The search activity of children is the best indicator of their interests. With this data, parents are given a better understanding of their children’s current favorite subjects and passions.
Kaspersky Safe Kids is a module in select Kaspersky products, and is also a standalone multi-platform solution used by parents to protect children from undesirable content. It also allows the cybersecurity company to collect anonymous statistics about children’s online activities for which filtering is suggested. Every year, data gathered from Kaspersky Safe Kids is analyzed to find out the interests of the children and how they are adapting in the digital world.
The rest of the favorite apps of Filipino kids for the first quarter of the year are Google’s Chrome browser (6.39 percent), YouTube Kids (3.54 percent), Netflix (3.08 percent), the first-person shooter game Call of Duty (2.56 percent), and the mobile online battle arena game Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (2.37 percent).
“As one of the world’s most active digital citizens, it is no surprise that Filipino children are enthusiastic explorers of the digital world themselves. Having not gone back physically to school since the pandemic, I understand the majority of these kids are relying on the Internet not just for study but also for play and entertainment, most likely because of remote learning blues. We encourage parents to stay informed and commit to sitting down with their kids extensively as it’s an effective way to keep their children responsible and safe digital citizens,” said Sandra Lee, managing director for Asia Pacific at Kaspersky.
Globally, YouTube still ranked first at 31.6 percent, followed by TikTok at 19 percent, WhatsApp at 18 percent, Roblox (7.5 percent) and Chrome closes the top five (7.3 percent). Roblox’s closest competitor, Brawl Stars, lost a little in popularity and took only 4.8 percent. Interestingly, YouTube Kids, a special app for children, is not very popular, with a share of only 2.1 percent.
From the statistics of children’s requests in Kaspersky Safe Kids, among the images that emerged were:
1. Anime: Among Japanese cartoons, children are most interested in Naruto, which chronicles the life of a noisy and restless teenage ninja; and My Hero Academia, which is about a boy born without superpowers in a world where superpowers have become commonplace, but who still dreams of becoming a hero.
2. Bloggers: These are opinion leaders for many children and are watched and imitated, helping many kids to learn about the world and find friends among like-minded people. Below, we highlight a few of the most popular, based on children’s search queries. It is important to note that almost all bloggers also have accounts on several popular social networks, so they can be viewed on other platforms (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.).
n Sssniperwolf—a popular blogger who shoots entertaining content on a variety of topics, focusing on humorous sketches or challenges.
n Nikocado Avocado—calls himself the “King of the Mukbangs.” Mukbang is a style of video where the blogger eats a lot of food in front of the camera and chats with viewers. It may seem strange at first, but such sessions often discuss popular news or high-profile topics.
n Piper Rockelle—lives in Hollywood and shoots various entertainment content, challenges, and talks about her life.
n Michou—a popular French blogger who films a wide variety of entertainment content. These can be reactions to other videos, pranks, various joint viewing of programs, and other options.
n Brent Rivera—shoots a variety of content, such as pranks, experiments or challenges, stories about his life, as well as different collaborations with other bloggers.
Next week, let me share my tips on how to flip or utilize our children’s digital world toward learning 21st century learning skills.