Discord Safety Facts You Should Know! 

Technology advances allow us to connect with people swiftly and develop stronger connections. Right now, you can use more than just a handful of social apps that let you communicate with the people you know or may want to know. We’ve now entered an era of more dedicated and directional communication platforms. You can create groups, channels, and streams for dedicated communities using WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal apps. But how about a social app for gamers? 

Discord is one of the dedicated apps designed for exclusive communication among gamers. It’s not like they cannot communicate using other groups, but using Discord while playing games is different. You must find Discord on their device if your child is a gamer. If yes, you need to learn everything about Discord safety for kids. 

About Discord 

Discord was started in 2015 to create a link for gamers to talk while playing. It’s a chat app where friends can talk using voice, video, or text. You can join groups called servers. A private server is like a group chat with friends. A public server is like a big chat room where people with common interests or games can connect.

People from similar interests can have their servers or chat rooms. These can be private and public. The biggest Discord group is the Mid-journey server, with over 17.5 million members. 

Discord facilitates gamers and a specific community, attracting many young users to the platform. The interest of the young masses in the app makes parents worried about their kid’s safety on Discord. They are concerned about whether Discord is safe for kids and teens. 

What made Discord Popular? 

Over the years, gaming has become popular among youth and kids due to mobile technology. There is no need for specific consoles to play high-end games like PUB-G, Free Fire, and more. As users grew, their need and demand for dedicated communication also grew. So, Discord became an accessible platform for them to connect and communicate. 

Many things made Discord popular among youth. The first is the dedicated gaming community, and the second is the private servers and chat groups. The kids and youth can connect seamlessly and exchange ideas, keeping their secrecy intact. At the same time, it raised several concerns for the parents regarding their child’s safety. 

Threats Discord Poses for Kids 

Is Discord safe for kids? Whenever you encounter a social media app that your child is using or plans to use, the first thing that comes to mind is its safety. Is the app a safe choice? Will it be the right platform to let the kids socialize? Well, the concerns are genuine and similar about Discord as well. The app is known for being an ultimate social app, letting many people from around the globe connect, network, communicate, and indulge in actions. 

However, the app’s features, benefits, and threats differ for everyone. Adults and professionals might find Discord resourceful. However, for the kids, discord safety is compromised. Experts cannot approve of the app as a green flag for teens and younger users. Here are certain reasons for it that you need to know and understand. 

NSFW Content 

One of the major concerns that parents have about Discord safety is the NSFW (Not Safe for Work) content. The app marks the content as default, showing that it does not contain any information content at all. The category not only hosts content of an entertainment nature but also age-sensitive and explicit content. Since there are private servers a child can join, there can be different kinds of content sharing. 

Sexual & Racist Language 

Another concern that arises and makes Discord unsafe for kids and teens is the sexual and racist language. People from different age groups and backgrounds in different server groups can potentially use sensitive language, exposing your child to slang, curse words, and insensitive language patterns. These either damage your kid emotionally or trigger them to use these words in the future to express their psychological frustration. Potentially, the child can be a victim or source of racism or build a sexist approach in the future. 

Strangers Everywhere 

It’s not definite that your child has all the threats from strangers only. Still, they are a major threat. Studies have revealed that many cyber predators are known people who victimize kids online. But the strangers are not falling behind. Every known person was one unknown to your child. 

The youth have a habit of connecting and communicating with people so fast. They get so comfortable and familiar with the strangers that they later get played by them. On Discord, your child and teenager have open access to meet strangers, making them more vulnerable. You must guide them in choosing connections wisely and keep an eye on their new friends or gatherings. 

Extremist Groups 

Apps like Discord are a safe place for extremist groups. On these apps, the extremists connect with the group with similar mindsets. So, they can easily brainwash or manipulate the youth and trigger them to adopt certain actions. 

Make Discord Safe for Kids 

Being concerned parents, you have this mindset that every online app and platform is dangerous and wrong for your kids. Well, in the case of Discord, the idea is right. It is not a safe platform for kids and teens for numerous reasons. However, you still have a lot in your hands to make Discord safe for kids. Here is what you can do in the process. 

Allow age-specific sign-up. 

As the platform’s guidelines mention, users younger than 13 cannot sign up for Discord. Similarly, as parents, you can set up a specific sign-up age limit for our kids on different social platforms, including Discord. Evaluating each platform and deciding when your child can have an account is better. Additionally, decide the conditions of signing up for the platform. 

It will help you bring your child to an agreement to sign up for the platform at a certain age following the conditions. Being at peace allows you to relax and not bother with what your kids are doing online. But still, sometimes, keeping an eye on their in-use apps and platforms is essential. After all, kids can slip away with emotions and impulses to try new platforms. 

Discuss online dangers with kids. 

Do you find setting limits for sign-ups difficult? Well, when you try to convince your kids about the setup, they will come up with arguments and reasoning. In this case, it’s better to discuss the dangers of the online world and the risks of Discord to their digital safety with them. It’s essential that your child understands the concept of digital safety and has enough digital literacy to be safe online.

It is not only your kids’ safety, but they are also aware of keeping others safe online. This discussion will help them know all the threats and ensure safe conduct. Kids should be aware of the practices and actions that can make their digital presence safe for others. Stopping them from bullying, harassment, distributing misinformation, and much more. These discussions and literacy will help to make kids more responsible and active online. 

Implement privacy settings 

Discord is not an unsafe app as a whole. It can threaten kids and immature users, but you have the privacy settings to cover it. If your child has a Discord account, using the privacy settings on their profile is better. It includes everything from who they can connect with, which server they can join, who can contact them, see their profile information, and more. 

In addition to that, you should set their profiles carefully by not adding any identifiable information like real full name, picture, location, and others. Guide your kids to keep their identities concealed, especially on an open platform where people can reach them easily. Also, encourage them not to share their personal information and real-time activities with the people they connect online. 

Discuss & decide on social platforms your child can join. 

On your child’s journey to ultimate digital safety, it’s essential to handpick the social platforms they will be joining. Doing so will help you determine what they are doing on social media. Remember, each social media app does have its significant usage and limitations. You need to know each app’s threats and opportunities and act accordingly. 

Moreover, in the case of Discord, where your child has access to multiple servers, it’s essential to discuss and decide about it. Not all the public and private servers are good for your child. You need to discuss it with your child and decide what kind of servers they can join. 

Encourage them to be a part of servers related to their interest and having the people they know. Even if they want to join a public server, they must know the participants there. Do not let them share too much information with strangers; always be careful with the community guidelines. 

Use Discord Parental Controls 

Followed by the latest stream for digital safety, all the digital platforms take privacy and security seriously. Similarly, Discord does contain parental controls or privacy settings. The settings help to keep the predators with explicit messages and content away. By setting up the “Safe Direct Messaging” to “Keep me Safe,” you will automate the private message filters. Discord will automatically scan your private messages for explicit or adult material in the messages and delete them. 

The setting is helpful to keep your child safe on the platform. The app will be in action whenever anyone tries to hit on them using foul messages or explicit content. You can be at peace as your child’s messages are on filtration.  

Sign up for Rigorous FamilyTime Parental Controls 

The Discord parental controls are good, but these are not enough to keep your child safe on Discord. Anytime your child changes these settings, the app will no longer filter the messages. Above all, you cannot even notice this. Instead, using FamilyTime parental controls gives you more power. It allows you to hold on to your child’s activities on Discord. 

• App Blocker – If you do not want your kid to use Discord, just block the app on your child’s devices using the blocker. 
• Approve App – You will be notified when your young one downloads any new Discord or related app. Here, you can review the app and approve or reject the installation to gate-keep the downloads. 
• App Limit – For teens, you can allow the Discord app to be on devices but limit its usage using the individual app limits. The teens cannot use the app for more than the designated time. 
• Social Media Monitoring – Enjoy a sneak peek at your child’s social media chats with FamilyTime. Access their chats to find out what they are discussing and with whom. 
• Contacts Watchlist – New contacts on your child’s device are always haunting. Watchlist them to get notifications and alerts about exchanging messages and call records. 

These are not the only tools; FamilyTime has many other tools, from screen time limits to schedules, location tracking, geofence, SOS alerts, and more. Besides making Discord safe for your kids, you can use the best parental control app to monitor and balance your child’s digital life smartly. 

Wrap Up! 

Daily, digital safety challenges are getting tough with the launch and penetration of new social apps. Kids and teens are attracted to these apps for exploration and being in trend. Following the situation, as a concerned parent, you have to be smart and take a step forward in the process. Adopt the ultimate parental controls through the FamilyTime app to monitor your child’s social media and control what they watch online. Doing so will keep them safe and build a balanced digital routine.