42% of Children in the META Region Dream of Blogging Careers
Not a scientist, doctor, or astronaut—children in the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa (META) region are now dreaming of careers as bloggers, with a recent Kaspersky study revealing that 42% of children surveyed aspire to become bloggers.
The survey was conducted by the Toluna research agency in 2023-2024 at Kaspersky’s request, involving 10,000 online interviews with 5,000 parent-child pairs in Türkiye, South Africa, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The findings show that a significant portion of these young respondents are already taking steps toward their goals, with 44% actively developing their own blogs or creating content for the future.
Why Blogging?
The desire for popularity is the primary motivation for these aspiring bloggers, with 53% of children citing it as the reason for their choice. Other motivations include:
- Enjoying creating video content (46%)
- Believing blogging is an easy way to make money (36%)
- Seeing blogging as a trendy and cool career (32%)
Parents’ Perspectives on Blogging
While a quarter of parents (25%) are against their children pursuing a blogging career, the majority (74%) are supportive or at least don’t mind the idea. Only 16% of parents said they would be happy for their children to become bloggers, while 44% found it acceptable only if the child was an adult.
Seifallah Jedidi, Regional Head of Consumer Channel for the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa at Kaspersky, noted the positive aspects of blogging for children. “Regardless of parents’ opinions on blogging, creating, maintaining, and promoting a blog is a difficult task, which requires a wide range of skills that could be useful for a child’s future career. It can help young people to discover their creativity and ways to express themselves. Blogging also provides mom and dad with valuable insights into their children’s lives, bringing families closer together,” Jedidi said.
Safety Tips for Young Bloggers
As blogging becomes a more common ambition, Kaspersky has provided safety tips for young bloggers and their parents. The company emphasizes that a social media account is a blogger’s primary tool, so protecting it is a top priority.
Key safety recommendations include:
- Two-factor authentication: Activating this feature is a reliable way to protect a profile from being compromised or hijacked.
- Strong, unique passwords: It’s essential to create a strong password and avoid reusing it across multiple accounts, such as email or social media.
- Understanding privacy: Children need to know what information is safe to share publicly and what should remain private. Examples of what not to share include IDs, tickets, and other personal documents. It’s also recommended to keep geotags private and not reveal current location or travel plans.
- Communicating with strangers: Parents should discuss with their children which topics are acceptable to communicate about with strangers and what information should never be shared online.
- Dealing with undesirable users: Young bloggers should be prepared for contact from unfriendly or illegitimate users and should block or stop responding to any suspicious accounts.
- Cybersecurity tools: Using cybersecurity tools can help parents protect their children from various cyber threats.
