Roblox: Innocent digital playground or online predator's dream?

Episode 25

Is your kiddo an easy target on this platform? This episode discusses what you need to know to keep your kiddo safe in this online digital playground that many say is an online predator's dream.  Learn where and how to set it up to keep your kid safe! 

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Help ensure the safety and normal childhood development of your child by grabbing the newest version of the GABB Wireless phone at THIS LINK or go to https://www.gabbwireless.com/promo/bethatmom and use code BETHATMOM for $10 off!! 

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Already have a smart phone or ready to give them one? Protect your child (and your sanity) in the digital world with BARK! Use code BETHATMOM for 20% off for life! https://www.bark.us

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Other options if you are considering a first phone (or need to backtrack on this decision):

• Relay go device can be found HERE
• Gizmo Watch can be found HERE

(A few of the above links are affiliate links that I may receive commission from at no extra cost to you! Your support is greatly appreciated!)

Want to be THAT Mom besties??? Jump in to my free Be THAT Mom Movement Facebook Community HERE! 

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Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on IG @dollydenson https://www.instragram.com/dollydenson 

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More info on the Be THAT Mom Movement https://www.dollydenson.com

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Be THAT Fit Mom!! Simplify your fitness/nutrition routine! Join me in the Align Your Life Fit Club! More info can be found at https://www.dollydenson.com/fitclub or at https://www.dollydenson.com/muscleburnsfat for the newest program I am doing. 

 Listen to it now here or click HERE for your favorite podcast platform!

Full Transcription: 

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Hey there. Welcome back to the, be that mom movement podcast. Today, we are going to talk about a gaming system platform, whatever you want to call it, that a lot of kids are using and I'm seeing parents ask, what should I be looking for? And what should I do? So we're gonna address that so we can face it head on as that mom. Alright, so stay tuned.

Speaker 2: (00:22)
Welcome to your source for tips, tools, and support to help you be that mom that is tuned in and proactive for yourself, your family, and for the wild ride of raising kids in this digital age, inspired by a mother's love with a relatable real life. Proud to be that mom flair. This is the bead that mom movement with your host Dolly Denson.

Speaker 1: (00:46)
Alrighty. So welcome back to another episode today. We're going to talk about a gaming platform that I think you need to know about if you have children, especially younger children. But before I do that, I want to just give a shout out to all of you that are listening and have continued to be valuable subscribers and fans of this podcast. Because this past week, the podcast ranked 131 in the U S and the parenting category like Holy cow, there are a lot of heavy hitters in the parenting category. And so I never imagined that I'd even be able to come up on the ranks in the U S but I actually did. I've ranked once in Canada. I can't remember what I was ranked at. I think it was like 82 or something like that. Uh, but I have not ranked to date in the U S until this past week.

Speaker 1: (01:37)
So I was really excited to see that. Thank you so much for tuning in my goal with this podcast is always to be a relatable mom to you that is living a real life and navigating all this and just wanting to navigate it with you. So, uh, my ambitions have never been to like, be the number one podcast or anything like that, but it certainly is my mission to get this into the ears of more parents, that years of more moms, and to help support you on this path. Cause it's not an easy path. So the more that you can share this, that you can write me reviews and subscribe and all those things, the more we can get this out into the world. And I tell you, the more moms that we have joined in this mission of being that mom that's proactive for herself and her kids, this will not necessarily get easier, but it won't be as hard.

Speaker 1: (02:23)
If we can raise the awareness around all of these things and help other families to see that putting a smartphone in the hands of our kids and giving them access to anything. And everything is a dangerous thing. If we can get everybody kind of on the same page or a majority of people on the same page and our kids won't be coming home and saying, well, I'm the only kid that has whatever, you know, whatever restrictions you lay down or things that you don't allow them to access. So we really do need to get this mission out to more people. So it fills my heart with joy when I see the rank going up for the podcast. So I hope you will continue, listen to share, subscribe, write me review, share on your social media channels, share with your girlfriends, everything else so that we can get this out into the hands of more people.

Speaker 1: (03:08)
So now let's get to the topic at hand for today. I want to talk about a gaming system platform, whatever you want to call it called roadblocks, have you, you heard it and are your kids on it? My kids are a little bit older, so they have not been on it, but they certainly know what it is. So I just want to address a little bit around what I have found with it. So if you do have young kids that are for this or that are on it, you will know what things you need to look for and how to navigate it better. Okay. So first off, if you're not familiar with it, um, you can get a free account for roadblocks. You go to roblox.com and, uh, create an account log in and it's world is there for you, the roadblocks world. So this is basically a place where roadblocks puts out their own games that are [inaudible].

Speaker 1: (03:55)
I loved games with roadblocks, but someone else who creates games, anyone else who creates games can publish their games on this platform? Sounds like a great opportunity, right? If you're someone that likes to create games, the problem is there's people out there that like to create games that don't have the of intentions and the kind of horror stories that I've heard from other parents is that they didn't set the parent controls on their too private. And you know, all the little innuendos of it, they actually found instances where their child was approached by another character who tried to do sexual acts to them, or they were invited to a private room to chat. And in that private room, it was like a sex room, or even just playing a regular game, having a chat going in the game that is all sexual innuendos. So roadblocks, whenever they hear of, or, you know, whenever they do to detect these sorts of activities will take the game down or, you know, block the certain things.

Speaker 1: (05:00)
But what a lot of these people do is they will make their words like somehow not the actual word. So they'll put for letters in there, or, you know, something to make it to where whatever is used in the system to detect these things does not detect. So they will be talking to this child old and asking them different questions. And they just put a couple extra letters in there so that it's not detected by the system. So how do we approach this in a way that keeps it safe for our kids? It is not something that's kind of like a hopeless situation, completely get them off of them. If you will, you want to navigate it with some of the controls that are in place. And there are some things that you can do to where they cannot, or they will not be exposed to these things.

Speaker 1: (05:48)
So first when you go in and you make the account, it's a free account, you can make it. I made myself one and I've gone all through trying to, you know, see what the little innuendos of it are. But when you make the account, you can go to the little gear icon in the upper, right, and set the controls. So you have my settings and then you have the account information. You have security options where you can put that opin is required in order to make any changes, you can put restrictions so that the child can only use roadblocks, curated content on the platform and not just pick some random game that someone has published. And then you can also set it up for privacy, where you can say, no one can message them or only friends can message them. And same thing for chats and people inviting them to a private server.

Speaker 1: (06:40)
You can put down that you want everyone to be able to invite them or just their friends, users, followers, or friends only, or no one. So there are all these settings in here that you can go through. So what I recommend you do is when you set this up for your child, that you actually go in and do this for them and set it up to where they have the pin set up so that they cannot change the settings. And then they also have in here where you can purchase Robux R O B U X and that's money in the robot world. So you can set it up to where they can purchase things or they can't. So I've had horror stories with the whole purchase in a game type thing, when they didn't realize that it was actually real money that they were using of mine, not on this game, but, you know, on some games that my kids were on when they were younger and we didn't realize what was going on until the damage had been done.

Speaker 1: (07:34)
And we had a huge, huge build pay. But besides that, it also has 13 plus settings and under 13 settings. But you absolutely do have, I have control over these things and can set it to private to where no one can contact them. They can't play any games other than the roadblocks curated ones. Yeah. All of that, of course, with any platform, there's probably a work around that someone is going to do, but I just recommend that you go through and really be curious about what is involved with anything that you're giving your kid, you know, make your own account, walk through it, do the, what ifs, you know, if you set it to where everyone can contact you and you can access any game, you know, be there devil's advocate for it and really kind of explore yourself with your own account, but then, you know, set up your kid's account with them.

Speaker 1: (08:23)
These controls in mind, secure 30 privacy, all of that. So that, you know, they're not exposed to that things that you don't want them to be exposed to. So all in all roadblocks does look like it is a great platform for kiddos to play on. I would just be proactive about, about these things. Now, as I have mentioned enough, their episodes bark is a great option for you to add on to your kids' devices. Everything they're accessing a roadblocks is something that they can get as an app on there, Mark phones, or use it on the computer or a, or console such as the Xbox or, you know, the other things like that. So it is something that can be monitored by bark. I highly, highly, highly recommend that you go to bark.us, sign up for the seven day free trial, check it out, go through all of it, putting it on your kid's device, talk to their help people, if you need help, getting it set up.

Speaker 1: (09:16)
It absolutely is the most comprehensive of any of the things I've found out there. Of course, all of them are going to have limitations. If you have an Android versus an Apple phone, that makes a difference. Apple is still something that you can monitor, but with Android, it's more pervasive that it can get in and monitor conversations and things within certain apps. But I still would use it for Apple. There is nothing else out there that will monitor to a greater degree than bark. The limits with iPhones and Apple devices is Apple, not any other type of monitoring device. If they would just let these monitoring systems get in and do the things they need to do to protect our children, bark would absolutely be your best option. So Apple or no Apple, I still recommend it. And then there is the bark Omatic that bark has where you can put in what different platforms you are using or allowing your child to use.

Speaker 1: (10:10)
And it gives you step by step instructions on how to set it up. It actually does do that for roadblocks. Everything that I just told you is also something that you can get in Barco MADEC and, uh, give you some peace of mind, as well as monitoring their activity and alerting you of conversations and activity like things that they're searching for and all of those things so that you can sleep better at night and not have to be worried that you were missing something or that they are being contacted by someone that you don't want them to have contact with. So go to bark.us and get signed up for that. And they do. I don't know if I mentioned it, but they do monitor tablets and other devices other than the smartphone. And they're getting ready to come out with bark home, which is basically going to be like a filter for your home wifi and the activity and devices that access it.

Speaker 1: (10:59)
So that is going to be huge, huge, huge in there, always improving on everything that they have. So please put your trust in them and help yourself to sleep better at night. And if you are wanting to backpedal on a decision of a smartphone or are, have a younger child coming up the pike, whatever gab wireless is a great option. I know if you've listened to any of my other episodes, you've heard me talk about them, but go to gab wireless.com to learn more use code, beat out mom for a discount. They actually are going to have a watch coming out as well as their gab wireless phone. So do the things to keep your kiddo safe. And I hope that this podcast was helpful for you. Jump into my free, be that mom community on Facebook we are growing. And I hope that it is a safe place for you to come and share what your struggles are with your kiddos and helping you to be that mom's strong.

Speaker 1: (11:48)
And also if you have your own personal needs of needing to find a self care routine, fitness nutrition, just having someone to do it with, I have a virtual fit club that includes tools for nutrition and fitness made by experts. You are welcome to check it out. Please get in touch with me and I'll give you more information because when it came to my hardest days as a mother, that actually was the spark that brought on this be that mom movement. That was my safe place. My foundation, my place where no one could take that from me, it created strengthened me physically, mentally, spiritually, everything. And I'm so thankful that I had it. I'm also so thankful that I have that in the midst of this pandemic and all of the things we are facing right now with COVID-19 and the worldly events. So please check that out.

Speaker 1: (12:36)
I cannot emphasize enough how very powerful that is in helping you to be that mom and to just live a long and healthy life. Okay. And you know, I'm a nurse practitioner, so I'm mega passionate about that because I see sick people and people who are suffering from disabilities and things every day of my nurse practitioner job. And so it is my goal to arm you with the resources that you need that will be flexible for worldly events in your season in life. And this will absolutely do that and help you move forward with everything that you do from here on out. Okay. So connect with me, check it out. I have amazing options this month. You don't want to miss it. Okay. Alright. Talk to you next time.

Speaker 2: (13:16)
Thanks for tuning in being that mom isn't easy, but together we can be that mom's strong. Don't forget to leave a review, connect on social and join Dolly's free community till next t