Kaspersky Data Reveals Shift in Children's Online Habits Toward Communication and Mobile Risks

Recent research indicates a notable shift in how children spend their time online, moving away from traditional computer gaming toward communication platforms and self-directed media tools. According to data from Kaspersky covering the first quarter of the calendar year, children's digital habits on Android devices and Windows desktops increasingly favor communication and shared media.

On Windows desktops, internet, communication, and media emerged as the most-visited category among Indian children, accounting for 43.44 per cent of activity. This was closely followed by software, audio, and video at 34.99 per cent. Together, these two categories comprised more than three-quarters of total desktop activity, while news media trailed at 8.43 per cent.

Computer gaming accounted for a modest 2.60 per cent share of desktop activity. The study noted that while gaming is no longer the dominant force it once was, it remains a part of children's everyday routines on desktop computers.

In contrast, children's exposure to risk categories on Android mobile devices presented a different pattern. Exposure to adult content surged to 5.71 per cent on mobile devices, which is nearly three times higher than the 1.91 per cent incidence recorded on Windows desktops. E-commerce at 5.70 per cent and news media at 4.69 per cent were also notably higher on mobile than on desktop. Meanwhile, categories related to alcohol, tobacco, and narcotics held steady at 0.26 per cent on mobile, closely mirroring the Windows figure of 0.29 per cent.

Commenting on the findings, Jaydeep Singh, General Manager for India at Kaspersky, stated that it is encouraging to see children's time online anchored in communication, shared media, and everyday self-expression rather than pure entertainment alone. However, he added that the presence of adult content, narcotics-related material, and unsupervised gaming, even in smaller shares, indicates that online curiosity extends beyond expected categories, with mobile devices showing meaningfully higher exposure in several areas.

"The shift in children's digital consumption toward communication and self-directed tools highlights changing user behavior across devices. At the same time, the higher exposure rates on mobile devices compared to desktops present clear operational and product design challenges for platforms, developers, and parental control tech startups operating in the digital safety sector." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes