Roblox is a giant game platform with 200 million users where children can both play and ‘create’ games. Roblox users create all the games on Roblox. So, it’s likely you’d find some titles created by kids. However, issues such as transactions, interactions, content, and the time kids spend on Roblox make parents concerned about this platform’s safety. As a result, here we’re going to discuss Roblox’s safety and health risks for kids and offer ways you, as a parent, can help your child control them.
What is Roblox?
Although people of all ages can use Roblox, most users are kids. This game platform is so popular among children that we bet if you ask your child, they can tell you a lot about it even if they haven’t played games on it. Roblox is so popular because it offers more than just entertainment by playing computer games. It is a platform where children can promote their creativity, socialise, and even make money online. Even younger or less skilled users can try their hands at programming using Roblox’s simplified programming language. Roblox has the potential to boost ideas that can turn into big projects.
What Are Roblox’s Risks for Kids?
Despite Roblox’s many advantages, this game platform comes with some safety & health risks because of the features listed below:
Inappropriate Content
Although most of Roblox’s users are children, not all games on Roblox are made for people of all ages. Roblox applies an age restriction for games with violent or sexual content. However, children can fake their ages to play these games.
In-App Purchases
Developers on Roblox can make money out of their games on Roblox. Selling items that users can buy for their avatars is widespread on Roblox. Although most of these items are inexpensive, if children buy a lot of these items, they’ll amount to a significant sum of money.
Chat with Strangers
Users on Roblox use private and public chats to socialise with each other and plan their game strategies. However, these features are hotbeds for cyberbullies and harassers. Spotting vulgar and offensive words is common in public chatrooms. Moreover, predators sometimes use private chatrooms to harass children sexually. Private chats can also be used to deceive children into divulging personal information.
Thankfully, the platform uses a protocol to weed out inappropriate words in public chats. Also, users can always report abusive users. Nevertheless, there’s a chance your child may come across inappropriate comments or abusive people on Roblox.
Screen Time
Experts suggest 2 hours of daily screen time (the time spent using a smart device with a screen) for children above five years old. However, kids tend to spend much more than the recommendation on Roblox. It is because, like any other popular game, children cannot control the time they spend on Roblox.
You should always keep an eye on children’s screen time because too much of it can lead to screen addiction. Screen addiction causes sleeping and eating disorders, hampers children’s socialising and face-to-face interactions, and results in underachievement at school and the gym.
How to Control Roblox’s Safety Risks?
Roblox offers settings to make the platform safer for kids. However, you shouldn’t confuse them with parental control settings since children can modify them any time they want. Below, we have listed some of these settings.
Age Restriction
If you’re creating an account for your kid on Roblox, make sure you enter the correct date of birth because Roblox blocks some of the content and features for children under 13. However, you can, later on, change the age in the settings.
Restricted Socialising
Children can chat with each other on Roblox. As we explained earlier, this feature can pose some safety risks for young children. So, we suggest deactivating it in the settings.
Blocking and Reporting
On Roblox, users can report and block intrusive users and inappropriate content. It is essential to teach your kid to use this feature to keep away from harassers.
Restricted Money Spending
As explained earlier, not all features on Roblox are free. Developers make money from their games by selling items related to the avatars in their games. Purchasing these items alone is not a problem, but you should teach your kids to moderate their spending. However, if you think they’re unable to moderate, you can block the feature in the app settings.
Other Ways to Protect Children on Roblox
You should note that Roblox’s settings are insufficient to guarantee your child’s total safety. As a result, the best strategy would be to instruct your kid to inform you if they receive suspicious messages or see inappropriate content on Roblox. Explain to them why it is dangerous to reply to messages from strangers or play games that are not suitable for their age. However, first and foremost, you must educate yourself about the safety risks of Roblox for kids and how to protect your child.
Roblox doesn’t offer any settings to control children’s screen time. Kids can spend hours playing games on Roblox if they remain undisturbed. Knowing that Kids’ Excessive screen time has destructive effects on their health is essential. Moreover, Roblox is unsuitable for kids below ten, as reported by Google Play and below 12 by App Store. Therefore, you need to control your child’s access to Roblox. Below we will explain how.
How to Stop Kids from Spending Too Much Time on Roblox
If you think your child is spending too much time on Roblox or is too young to use it, you can use parental control suites with screen time monitoring and app/web blocking features. We’ve tested Safes parental control suite and realised it offers comprehensive features to both control kids’ screen time on Roblox and stop younger kids from using it. In the following, we will discuss some of its features.
App Blocker
If you don’t want your child to use Roblox at all, you can use the app blocker feature on Safes to block the Roblox app on your child’s phone, tablet, or computer.
Web Filter
Users can also access Roblox using Roblox’s web portal. So, to make no loopholes block the Roblox website using the web filter feature on Safes.
Screen Time Tools
Safes offers a variety of features to control kids’ screen time on Roblox. You can set a time limit for your child to use the Roblox app, say 1 hour daily. When your child reaches the time limit, Roblox will shut down and won’t work until the next day.
You can create a screen time schedule for your child to use Roblox. For example, you can allow 1 hour of Roblox on weekdays and 2 hours on the weekend.
Set Bedtime Mode
Roblox can make children stay up after bedtime playing games. However, using the bedtime feature, you can block all apps on your child’s phone after a specific time at night when your child should go to bed.
Screen Time Reports
Safes shows daily, weekly, and monthly statistics of your child’s time on different apps. Using these reports, you can see if your child is overusing Roblox and accordingly block or limit their access to Roblox.
Final Words about Keeping Kids Safe on Roblox
This article was adapted from ‘Is Roblox Safe for Kids?’, published on Safes website. We suggest reading this article if you wish to learn more about the safety risks of Roblox and how to keep kids safe on this platform using Roblox’s safety settings and Safes parental control suite.