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A somewhat contrarian view. I've always viewed Roblox suspiciously. However, at the same time, I believe it is fairly harmless as long as your child remains in
by ipv6ipv4 4y ago
A somewhat contrarian view. I've always viewed Roblox suspiciously. However, at the same time, I believe it is fairly harmless as long as your child remains in the confines of Roblox and isn't lured into other social networks like Instagram, Snapchat or similar which I think can be effectively monitored and restricted.
I think that the big advantage of Roblox is that just like it is a decent game sandbox, it is also a good real life sandbox where children can safely learn about the online world, the risks and how to mitigate them (good passwords, never share your passwords, don't tell random strangers private information like your name, etc.). Assuming, I can prevent them from getting lured into other social networks, the worst that can happen is that they lose their Roblox account when they make an inevitable mistake. In my view, it's better that they learn these lessons in Roblox, at an early age, rather than later with social accounts or, worse, financial accounts.
Roblox' problems can be a useful educational tool.
- adbachman 4y agoYou just replied to an actual experience of predatory behavior with the statement, "it is fairly harmless". > "It is also a good real life sandbox where children can safely learn about the online world" It's not, though. That's the point of this article and the comment you replied to. Again and again, it is _not_ a safe sandbox for learning. You don't prepare children for the world by handing them off to predators with a "we tried" level of safety in place, you do it by removing the predators.
- sillysaurusx 4y agoOr teach your kids how to avoid the predators, since predators will always be around. I don't agree that the best course of action is to shield your children from every negative consequence of the world. But I guess I shouldn't be speaking as someone who doesn't have a kid. (We've been trying, and hopefully IVF will work.) But I do have a lot of second-hand experience with nieces and family friends. Maturity level varies dramatically between kids, and it seems like a mistake to take a one-size-fits-all "Internet is scary" approach to parenting. Kids will find a way to hang out with their friends. If you get in the way of it, you'll quickly find yourself on the losing end of a years-long battle.
- deelowe 4y agoChildren are not little adults. You cannot place the same expectations on them as you would an adult. Education or not. I've personally witnessed my kids doing things they knew they shouldn't and were specifically warned against, yet were surprised when the outcome matched what they were told would happen. In this case it was someone offering free stuff via steam and my son's account was stolen.
- sillysaurusx 4y agoAlso known as a learning experience. :) I lost my Asheron's Call account the same way. You're right, of course. Some experiences are worse than others. And it's worth protecting kids from as much negativity as possible.
- deelowe 4y agoMaybe not as much as possible, but I definitely think online predators is on the list.
- abirch 4y agoExactly it's the consequences of what could happen. It's good for kids to learn the hard way most of the time, but I'm not letting my kid swim in shark infested water so that they learn about the value of signs.
- supersync 4y agoI think your example is actually a counter example. This is also how most people, regardless of age, learn. The key is - did you have to warn your son again? I subscribe to natural consequence parenting within guardrails. People learn from experience reliably, the key is to allow manageable consequences.
- dkersten 4y agoExperiences to learn from aren’t created equally though. Getting your steam account stolen is one thing, getting exploited by sexual predators is quite another. Some experiences are good for learning, others may lead to long term consequences or developmental or mental problems. The point people are making here is that your child is not on an equal playing field with the predator. The predators have an overwhelming advantage.
- ipv6ipv4 4y agoI said it with the stipulation that the kids are kept within the confines of Roblox. Note that kids were lured elsewhere for anything serious - instagram, porn accounts, webcams, discord, whatever. It also goes without saying that they need constant guidance, reminders, and monitoring.
- bee_rider 4y agoIf we stipulate that bad outcomes don't occur, then nothing is bad.
- jrm4 4y agoI would love to figure out a way to filter this thread by who does and doesn't have children, and what ages, etc. Either way, I have a 10 year old who's played for a few years now. Like many here, I really tried to avoid it, and for us, it was the pandemic. This is just where the friends were. Anyway, I think we're doing okay with it. Back then, she was only allowed to play on a big screen-ish computer in a place where anyone in the family could she was doing -- and even "allowed" here feels weird, because this was never a discussion or a fight, that's just how things are for my kids, for now. So I've peeped in on the chat a bunch, she just knows that sometimes I will be over her shoulder, and frankly I get a big kick out of putting on a ridiculous narrating voice for her little dragon role-plays. She now has her own computer that she can play in her room by herself if she likes -- but, and maybe this is just our parenting thing, we can always go into her room. If the door is closed, we do knock -- but I've literally never been "rejected" here. In fact the only time I can recall her requesting privacy, it was a phone call with a boy (who we know, whos parents we know, etc). So yeah, not that stranger danger doesn't exist, from here it really feels like this isn't much a function of "roblox" or even "the internet/computers?"