Culture

What 17% of kids are searching for online will surprise you

Published

6 years ago

June 21, 2018

A recent investigation has turned up an interesting finding on what kids are searching for online. Africa, with South Africa as focus, was part of the survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab.

The latest report on the online activities of children also highlights the importance of protecting them when online.

For example, video content globally, comprised 17 percent of searches over the last months. Although many videos watched as a result of these searches may be harmless, it is still possible for children to accidentally end up watching videos that contain inappropriate content.

The report shows anonymised statistics from Kaspersky Lab’s flagship consumer solutions for Windows PCs and Macs that have the Parental Control module switched on and from Kaspersky Safe Kids, a standalone service for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices.

For example, the report presents search results on the ten most-popular languages* for the last 6 months. The data shows that the video & audio category – including requests related to any video content, streaming services, video bloggers, series and movies – are the most regularly ‘googled’ by children (17 percent of the total requests).

The second and third places go to translation (14 percent) and communication (10 percent) websites respectively. Interestingly, games websites sit in fourth place, generating only nine percent of the total search requests.

We can also see a clear language difference for search requests: for example, video and music websites are typically searched for in English, which can be explained by the fact that the majority of movies, TV series and musical groups have English names.

Spanish-speaking kids carry out more requests for translation sites, while communication services are mostly searched for in Russian.

More than any other nationality, Chinese-speaking children look for education services, while French-speaking kids are more interested in sport and games websites.

In turn, German-speaking requests dominate in the “shopping” category. The leading number of search requests for porn are in Arabic, and for anime are in Japanese.

“Kids in different countries have different interests and online behaviors, but what links them all is their need to be protected online from potentially harmful content. Children looking for animated content could accidentally open a porn video. Or they could start searching for innocent videos and unintentionally end up on websites containing violent content, both of which could have a long-term impact on their impressionable and vulnerable minds,” says Anna Larkina, Web-content Analysis Expert at Kaspersky Lab.

The second most popular category of websites visited in South Africa by these users is software, audio, and video. In South Africa, this category accounted for 17 percent.

Websites with this content have become significantly more popular since last year, when it was only the fifth most popular category globally at six percent. The top four is rounded off with electronic commerce (4.2 percent) and alcohol, tobacco, and websites about narcotics (3.9 percent), which is a new addition compared to this time last year.

The mobile trend is again highlighted in the figures for computer games, which are now in fifth place locally on the list at three percent. As kids continue to show a preference for mobile games rather than computer games, this category will only continue to decrease in popularity on computers over the coming months and years.

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Culture

DRC authorities arrest six over break-in at Lumumba’s Mausoleum

Published

1 hour ago

November 21, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say six people have been arrested over a break-in and vandalism at the mausoleum of the country’s assassinated independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, in Kinshasa, the country’s capital.

The police had announced the six arrests late Wednesday and said they were still looking for two more suspects.

Interior Minister, Jacquemin Shabani, said in a statement that during the break-in which occurred on Monday, a case containing a single gold-capped tooth, the only part of the former leader that remained after his assassination, was broken by the vandals.

“We assure that the relic is secure and it is protected,” the minister said, without offering more information.

The return of Lumumba’s tooth from former colonizer Belgium in 2022 had been celebrated around Congo, with the tooth taken around the vast country so people could pay their respects.

Lumumba is widely hailed as the nationalist activist who helped end colonial rule in the DRC and went on to become the country’s first prime minister and was seen as one of Africa’s most promising new leaders, but he was assassinated within a year in 1961.

His body was dismembered and dissolved with acid in an apparent effort to keep any grave from becoming a pilgrimage site.

For many in Congo, Lumumba is a symbol of the positive developments the country could have achieved after its independence but instead, it became mired in decades of dictatorship that drained its vast mineral riches.

A military coup toppled Lumumba, who was arrested, jailed and later killed. His assassination, blamed on separatists, cleared the way for the rise of Mobutu Sese Seko, who ruled the country he later renamed Zaire for decades with support from Western powers until his death in 1997.

His one remaining tooth was kept by the Belgian police commissioner who oversaw the destruction of his body.

The tooth was returned to Congo after the visit of Belgium’s King Philippe, who expressed regrets for his nation’s abuses in Congo when it was a Belgian colony.

Culture

Miss SA opens up on why she withdrew from Miss Universe pageant

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Reigning Miss South Africa 2024, Mia le Roux, has opened up on the reasons behind her withdrawal from the Miss Universe pageant which was held in Mexico, where Nigeria’s Chidinma Adetshina was the first runner-up.

While narrating her experience in a video she shared on social media on Wednesday, le Roux said her body was taking so much physical strain.

“Hello everyone, I’m back in South Africa and wanted to reach out to you all. Thank you so much for all of your kind wishes, your support and prayers,” she said in the video.

“I wanted to be transparent with you and share my story. A lot of you would’ve seen the video that I made about vertigo, while I was in Mexico at Miss Universe.

“Vertigo is a condition where it feels like you are dizzy and there’s a sense of the world spinning around you. It’s very intense and can cause major issues with your imbalance.

“Mentally I was very strong, I was ready, but physically, my body was taking strain. I had to even seek medical help in Mexico City. And even after the medical help, my condition still wasn’t improving.”

She added that during the preliminary rounds of Miss Universe, she had continued to push herself but her vertigo intensified and it became unmanageable.

She stated that while she was waiting backstage, she fell repeatedly and couldn’t stand up without support and was not in a position to safely walk on stage.

“It was not easy. As I was not doing it just for myself but for all of you in South Africa,” she said.

“I will continue to serve as your Miss South Africa, to support and uplift those who come after me. With my unbreakable spirit and an exciting year ahead, I will keep fighting for myself and for everyone with dreams and passions. I am so proud to still be your Miss South Africa,” she added.