Roblox is an online digital game platform that enables people of all ages not only to play games but also to create games of their own. As a matter of fact, all the games available on Roblox are the ones made by independent developers. With the variety of games available on Roblox, it’s not hard to imagine why it has about 200 million users. However, despite its colorful world, many parents wonder if Roblox is safe for kids.
Many issues concern parents, from children’s transactions on Roblox to the time they spend playing games. In this article, we will explain all the risks of Roblox for children, what solutions Roblox offers parents, and what you can do to maximize safety when your kids play on Roblox. But first, let’s discuss why Roblox matters.
Why Does Roblox Matter?
According to Bright, Roblox has about 200 million users, with more than 42 million active daily. Most of the users of Roblox are children. At least half of the American children under 16 years of age have played on Roblox, according to Polygon.
This ever-growing online game platform offers more than just entertaining children. It stimulates children’s creativity, prepares the ground for socializing online, and perhaps most importantly, teaches them entrepreneurship.
Roblox’s simplified programming language enables younger or less skilled programmers to make video games and make money out of them. More significant projects have the potential to stem from these endeavors. However, Roblox also comes with certain disadvantages. This fantastic platform comes with safety risks for children that concern parents.
What Roblox Security Risks Concern Parents?
Here is the list of the security risks that concern parents about Roblox:
- Chat with Strangers
- Sexual Harassment
- Grooming
- Cyberbullying
- Data Theft
- Inappropriate Content
- Violence
- Sex
- In-App Purchases
- Gambling
- Screen Time
In the following lines, we will explain these risks in detail.
Chat with Strangers
On Roblox, users can send private messages to each other. Although this feature seems valuable for socializing and team building, it is sometimes abused by some users. Using the in-app chat, sexual predators and harassers may target children. They may send children texts or content inappropriate for their age or try to approach them with evil intentions.
Sometimes adults or children use the chat feature to bully their peers. At other times, they deceive each other into giving away personal information.
Inappropriate Content
Not all the games on Roblox are made for all users. Some of them contain violence and sex. There is an age limit for specific games, but children sometimes fake their age to access them. Other than the content of games, users may use vulgar language in public chatrooms.
In-App Purchases
As said earlier, Roblox gives developers the opportunity to make money out of the games they create. They usually do so by selling items that users can take for their avatars. These items are generally not expensive, but they can drive children into spending too much money through multiple microtransactions.
Gambling
Gambling with real money wagers or Robux (a game currency in the Roblox world that can be transferred into real money) is not allowed on Roblox. However, some games may promote gambling by inviting users to bet on other users.
Screen Time
Like all successful games, Roblox games have an addictive essence, which means that children cannot help themselves not to play more after a while. Meanwhile, the suggested screen time for children is less than 2 hours daily for entertainment.
Excessive screen time results in mental and physical health issues for children. Sleeping and eating disorders are common among children with high screen time. If children stay up late playing online games, they run the risk of waking up tired the next day. It will, in turn, cause a series of problems such as lack of attention and underachievement at school.
How Can You Make Roblox Safe?
Roblox comes with parental controls that can help make this platform, to some point, safe for children. These account restrictions include:
- Age Restriction
- Restricted Socialising
- Blocking and Reporting
- Restricted Money Spending
Despite the parental control options that Roblox offers parents, they are not enough to guarantee children’s safety completely. Instructing your child to report to you whenever they receive suspicious messages or inappropriate content is best to maximize their safety. You must forbid them to reply to messages from strangers or play games that are not suitable for their age. Also, moderate their expenditure on Roblox if you allow them to purchase in-app items.
Age Restriction
When you run Roblox for the first time, it asks for age verification. If you are installing Roblox for your kid, it is essential to ensure you enter the correct age. Roblox filters some of the features and games on this platform for children below the age of 13. You can later modify the age in the app setting.
Restricted Socialising
Roblox in-app chat is a popular feature of this program. Children mostly use it to talk about the games they’re playing and making teams. However, if you don’t find this feature safe, you can turn it off or limit it to friends in the app’s settings.
Blocking and Reporting
Roblox has a large monitoring team doing its best to spot and remove any inappropriate content on Roblox. Still, sometimes the users need to cooperate with them. Teach your child to report any inappropriate content they see on the platform and block/report users who they find intrusive.
Restricted Money Spending
It is possible to play games on Roblox without paying any money. However, some children prefer to buy items that make this app more ‘fun’. If you don’t want your child to use this feature, you can turn it off or limit the amount they can spend in the settings.
How Can You Monitor Children’s Roblox Screen Time?
Roblox doesn’t offer any features to control children’s screen time playing games on this platform. However, using some parental control apps such as Safes, you can manage your child’s screen time on Roblox and social media.
How Can Safes Help You?
Safes parental control app offers parents numerous tools to maximize their children’s health and safety using any app, including Roblox. With Safes, you can control how your child uses Roblox right from your own phone. You can:
- Block Roblox
- Set a Screen Time Limit for Roblox
- Make Screen Time Schedule for Roblox
- Terminate Roblox Instantly
- Set Bedtime Mode
- Get Roblox Screen Time Reports
Block Roblox
If you don’t want your child to use Roblox on their phone, tablet, or laptop, you can block it using Safes. You may also block the Roblox website to stop your child from accessing it through web browsers.
Set a Screen Time Limit for Roblox
You can set a screen time limit for your child to play games on Roblox. When your child reaches the limit, Roblox will shut down. Using the geofence feature, you can turn the screen time limits on and off based on where your child is: home, school, gym, etc. Plus, with this feature, you can limit the time they spend in the virtual world, no matter the device or the platform.
Make Screen Time Schedule for Roblox
With Safes, you can do more than just put a time limit. You can let your child use Roblox less during the weekdays and more on weekends. You can make screen time profiles for special days such as vacations and holidays.
Terminate Roblox Instantly
If your child uses Roblox too much and wouldn’t listen to your advice to lay it off, you can terminate the program from your own device.
Set Bedtime Mode
Due to the addictiveness of Roblox, your child might stay up past bedtime playing games. In this case, you can set a bedtime period for your child. Your child’s phone wouldn’t work in bedtime mode except for making urgent calls and SMS messages.
Get Roblox Screen Time Reports
Safes sends parents daily, weekly, and monthly reports of their children’s screen time. Using these reports, you can see your child’s hobbit of using Roblox. Then you can apply screen time limits if you think they’re overusing.
Concluding
Roblox is a unique online game platform that entertains children and stimulates their creativity. However, careless or abusive users cause safety risks for children. By explaining the dangers of using Roblox to your child and asking them to report to you anytime they receive suspicious messages or see inappropriate content, you can make Roblox a much safer place. Thankfully, Roblox’s parental controls help parents a lot in this matter.
You can use the Safes parental control app to help your child avoid overusing Roblox. With Safes, you can define a screen time limit for Roblox and a bedtime period. This means that your child won’t stay up playing games after bedtime and will be safe online.
Frequently Asked Questions
We’ve compiled a list of questions and answers to help provide more information on the topic we discussed. If you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to help!
Is Roblox safe for my child?
Roblox is not a harmful program by nature. However, immoral people may take advantage of it to harass children. The good news is that you can make Roblox a relatively safe program by explaining the risks of using Roblox to your child, using Roblox parental controls, and monitoring your child’s screen time.
Is there an age limit for using Roblox?
Children above four years of age can play games on Roblox. However, some games are restricted to children below 13. Adults may also play games on Roblox.
What security risks threaten children on Roblox?
Some users take advantage of the in-app chatting feature on Roblox to deceive children into disclosing private data. Some others target children for grooming, cyberbullying, or sexual harassment. Despite Roblox’s monitoring, violent and sexually explicit content may be found in some games or public chatrooms. In-app purchases and gambling are other issues that concern parents.
