Introduction
As my daughter grows up in a digital world, she has never known a time without computers and smartphones. She doesn’t even recognize what a typewriter, cassette tape, record player, or sometimes even a CD is. Welcome to the tech-savvy Generation Z, which encompasses children born after the year 2000!
Natural tech skills
My children exhibit extensive tactile skills, far surpassing my own, and demonstrate an inherent ability to type on keyboards and navigate the internet intuitively. Social media has become an integral part of daily life for many families, including ours, making various platforms like Google and YouTube extremely popular for my daughter as she searches for DIY videos and images related to her hobbies.
Content concerns
Recently, my daughter’s internet queries have featured topics like adorable cats, fimo tutorials, and wild horses. However, there are times when the results can be quite unexpected, sometimes dangerously so. This raises concerns about her online safety. Accompanying her during her online sessions and setting up child-friendly web browsers has become crucial. Despite our precautions, adult content occasionally slips through, presenting itself through ads or pop-up windows.
Introducing Qwant Junior
In recent weeks, I encouraged my daughter to try out Qwant Junior, a search engine designed specifically for children aged 6 to 12 years. I came across this helpful tool through Sophie, who has been passionately working to promote this engine alongside her team.
Positive experiences
Thus far, I am quite pleased with Qwant Junior. While no platform is flawless—there are minor quirks—it effectively blacklists violent and inappropriate sites while whitelisting educational resources. Notably, it protects user privacy with no tracking and ensures image searches are efficiently filtered. My children also enjoy the themed headlines featured on the homepage, which cover topics like nature and history.
Conclusion
We have decided to make Qwant Junior our primary browser. For now, it has made the internet a little more kid-friendly for my children and potentially for other kids of Generation Z.