To mark International Children’s Day, Kaspersky has released its annual report on kids’ digital interests. The analysis, covering the period from May 2024 to April 2025, reveals a growing fascination with AI-powered chatbots, the viral rise of Italian brainrot memes like “tralalero tralala”, and growing attention to Sprunki — a rhythm-based game combining music and motion. YouTube remains the most popular app among children globally, while WhatsApp overtook TikTok for second place. Learn more in the full report.
In today’s interconnected world, children are engaging with digital technology more than ever before. Recent studies indicate that 8-10-year-old children spend an average of six hours daily on screens, while preteens (ages 11–14) average about nine hours per day. With such a significant portion of their lives unfolding online, it becomes especially important for parents to understand what captures their children’s attention in the digital space — what they search for, what platforms they use and which trends influence their interests and behavior.
Every year, new digital trends shape the way children explore the world. In this year’s report, Kaspersky found a surge of interest in artificial intelligence tools. While no AI apps appeared in the Top 20 most-used applications in 2023-2024 time period, “Character.AI” has now entered the list, showing that children are not only curious about AI but are actively integrating it into their digital lives. More than 7.5% of all search queries were about AI chatbots, led by well-known names like ChatGPT, Gemini, and especially Character.AI — a platform that lets users create or interact with bots mimicking fictional or real characters. This marks a sharp rise from last year: in the 2023–2024 report, AI-related queries made up just 3.19% of all searches, increasing more than twice this year.
However, not all chatbot interactions are risk-free. Some bots may expose children to emotionally intense content, misinformation or age-inappropriate themes, especially when created or customized by other users. Since these platforms often rely on user-generated content and may lack strict moderation, it’s crucial to talk openly with kids about how they use AI tools — and to set up apps for digital parenting that help families stay aware, involved and protected.
While memes made up a small portion of searches this year, they still reveal another layer of children’s digital culture. Many of the most popular memes fell into what’s called “brainrot” — a kind of absurd, deliberately chaotic humor that spreads through short videos. Among the most searched were the Italian phrase “tralalero tralala” and a meme track called “tung tung tung sahur”. These phrases may sound random to adults, but for many children, they represent shared jokes that move quickly from platform to platform.
Examples of Italian brainrot phrases
Among the newcomers that caught analysts’ attention was Sprunki — a rhythm-based browser game that blends music and visual interaction. Players must hit beats in sync with fast-paced audio, making the experience both immersive and physically engaging. Its bright, cartoonish design and addictive gameplay have made it increasingly popular with younger audiences. This is reflected not only in Google searches but also on YouTube, where Sprunki entered the top five most searched gaming topics, standing alongside long-time favorites like Brawl Stars and Roblox.
Sprunki songs
At the same time, more familiar habits remain strong. The most common online activity among kids was searching on Google for streaming platforms — almost 18% of all queries were related to watching videos. Unsurprisingly, YouTube remains the clear favorite Android app, growing from 28.13% to 29.77% over the past year. WhatsApp rose to second place with 14.72%, overtaking TikTok (12.76%), while Snapchat and Facebook continued to decline. This shift may reflect evolving communication habits — children are using chat apps more frequently to share links, memes and short videos with friends.
Video content and games also remained popular topics in children’s search behavior. Platforms like Netflix, Twitch and Disney+ held strong — a trend that also echoed findings from Kaspersky’s recent streaming report, which highlighted how entertainment platforms often become targets for cybercriminals. At the same time, in the gaming world, kids continued to favor Roblox, Minecraft and increasingly, the browser-based portal Poki — a portal offering hundreds of free games, often simple, fast-paced and instantly accessible in a browser.
“This year’s trends show just how fast kids’ digital culture is evolving — one day they’re chatting with AI bots, the next they’re all humming an Italian meme song you’ve never heard of. But behind every trend is a chance for connection. When parents take time to understand what their children are watching, playing or searching for, it opens the door to meaningful conversations — and helps build safer, more trusting digital habits. Apps for digital parenting can be a helpful tool in this journey — not only to protect, but to stay involved,” comments Anna Larkina, privacy expert at Kaspersky.
The findings in this report are based on anonymized data voluntarily provided by users of the Kaspersky Safe Kids parental control solution between May 2024 and April 2025. Find the full report on KDaily.
To watch favorite shows safely, Kaspersky recommends the following:
- Maintain open communication with children about potential online risks and establish clear guidelines to ensure their safety.
- Secure gaming experiences by installing a trusted security solution, such as Kaspersky Premium, to prevent malicious file downloads.
- Stay informed about emerging threats and actively monitor children’s online activities in order to create a safer digital environment.
- Introduce children to cybersecurity basics using educational tools like the Kaspersky Cybersecurity Alphabet — a free downloadable book that explains key concepts, cyber hygiene rules, and how to avoid fraud.
Use digital parenting apps like Kaspersky Safe Kids to protect children both online and offline, manage screen time, block inappropriate content, and track their location for greater peace of mind.
