- Discord is a social platform designed in 2015
with gamers in mind.
It's a great way to play video games
with your friends or meet entirely new people.
And with text, voice, and video chatting,
you don't even have to put down your controller.
But in the seven years it's been around,
it's evolved beyond the gaming world
and is now used by millions of people around the globe.
It's a platform for gamers, students,
hobbyists, artists, and families,
I even use one to keep up with my college friends.
While many Discord servers are invite only,
it's easy for kids to find ones
for their favorite games
with thousands of active users.
Officially, the platform is designed
for ages 13 and up,
but is it really safe for those younger eyes?
And what can parents do to protect their kids
while using the app?
Today on Ask SafeWise,
we are taking a look at Discord,
what it does, it's privacy and safety settings,
and what you can do to keep your kids safe.
If you've ever used Slack
to talk to your coworkers,
you've already seen the basics of how Discord works.
Just like Slack,
Discord organizes its users into servers.
These are kind of like online communities
based around common interests or organizations.
Servers are easy to create,
so they can be anything
from student groups and coworkers
or gaming friends.
With each server,
users can create discussion threads
on any topic they want.
For gamers, these could be tips and tricks,
favorite characters, fan art, memes,
or anything people want to talk about.
Servers also have voice chat areas
where users can talk, video chat,
and share their screens.
You can think of Discord
like a big virtual living room
where people can hang out and talk
and share similar interests.
You can join multiple living rooms or servers
where you'll find threads
to talk about different topics.
You can create your own server,
join invite only ones,
or any of the many public servers out there.
Discord works on mobile devices,
PCs, and gaming consoles.
And for many gamers,
it's the weapon of choice
for playing with friends around the world.
The big appeal of Discord for many
is that it's like a social media platform
without the ads and extra noise.
If your kids love video games,
there's a good chance
they've already heard or used Discord.
It works on mobile as well as Xbox
and PlayStation and laptops,
so it's easy to access anywhere
especially during gaming.
While the platform is officially ages 13 and up,
there's no name or age verification
when you sign up.
And with games attracting players of all ages,
your kids could be in threads
with players much older than them.
The largest servers out there
have over 800,000 members
with well over 100,000 signed in and active
at any given time.
With groups that size and no age verification,
your kids could easily stumble across language,
images, and videos that they might not be ready for.
So with that, I can safely say that
I wouldn't recommend Discord
for younger teens and children.
But, the platform has some content filtering options.
And with a little active participation from parents,
older teens should be fine to use Discord.
So, parents, this next part's for you.
If your team uses Discord,
there are a few things you can do
to keep them safe
and learn more about the platform.
Discord doesn't have parental controls,
but you can filter content,
direct messages, friend requests,
and profile discovery for your kids' accounts.
All these settings control
who can contact your children
and find them within Discord.
So, start with the content filters.
In the User Settings, go to Privacy & Safety.
There, you can tell Discord
whether or not to scan the direct messages
that your kids receive or turn off DMs all together.
Settings include "Keep me safe",
which scans every direct message your kids get.
There's also, "My friends are nice",
which only scans messages from strangers.
Next, go to Friend Requests.
This is where you can adjust settings
for who can request to connect with your kids.
You can limit this to friends of friends,
members of the servers, or everyone.
We definitely recommend turning off that last one
for younger kids.
There's also Notification and Activity Privacy settings
that you can check out.
I also suggest trying Discord for yourself.
It only takes a few minutes
to create a server of your own,
and you can assign admin and moderator roles,
private channels, and other features within it.
There, your kids could play games with their friends
and you can keep them in safe territory
until they're ready to join the larger gaming community.
You can even try gaming with your kids
to learn more about what they love, who knows?
You might enjoy it.
Discord is like a dinner table
where everyone can hang out.
The trick is making sure
that your kids sit at the right table.
The number of people your kids interact with on Discord
could be huge or tiny
depending on what server they use.
And while younger teens might not be ready
for the larger Discord community,
there are things you can do to keep bad content
and bad actors away from them.
If this video was helpful,
like and subscribe for more from us every week.
We've also got resources for parents
in the description below,
and guidelines on safewise.com.
Thanks for watching and stay safe.
Thanks for watching.
And if you want more safety,
head over to safewise.com
and you can find reviews
and our lineups of best home security systems,
best wireless cameras and more, stay safe.
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