Many people use instant messaging and VoIP platforms to build communities or play games together. While it seems fun, these platforms are known to expose kids to strangers and harmful content due to their loose policies. Especially on Discord, parents may not always know who their children are talking to or what they are seeing. Although the platform offers features to manage kids’ activities, parents are unaware of them.
Therefore, this guide will help you understand the risks your children might face on such platforms. In addition, we will explain how to set up and use Discord's parental control features to make the platform safe for your kids. Apart from that, you will learn about an alternative solution that provides better control and ensures the security of your kids.
Table of Content
Part 1. The Real Discord Risks Parents Face?
While its wide accessibility and huge user base are its plus points, a few things can pose risks for kids using the platform. Below, we discuss such concerns that parents usually face, leading them to use parental controls for Discord:
1. Strangers Messaging Your Child
The platform allows anyone to text your children unless privacy settings are changed according to your needs. While this policy is to promote open communication between users, it can lead to strangers trying to chat or build friendships with kids. Furthermore, people can easily alter their identity and pretend to be someone they are not. Hence, Discord parental controls become a necessity for parents to ensure their kids’ safety.
2. Inappropriate Content Exposure
A useful feature of this platform is the creation of public servers and communities where people talk about different topics or connect with each other. Some of these servers share inappropriate content that is not safe for kids. Children often join servers with violent images and adult videos without knowing about it. Since this can affect their thoughts and behavior, parents must set up Discord parental control features.
3. Gaming Addiction Concerns
Discord is widely used by kids and streamers to play games and stream them on other platforms. Thus, kids can spend hours chatting or playing games with random people from different communities. This can lead to screen addiction and a lack of sleep, in addition to getting in touch with potentially harmful people. So, parents should use Discord's parental control features to notice these habits early and limit the app's usage.
4. Real Examples
As reported on CNN, a mother from North Carolina shared how her 13-year-old daughter joined a server about self-harm. People in that community shared tips on how to run away from their parents, which impacted the girl's mental health and led her to engage in self-harm. Moreover, the mother found that her daughter had plans to run away to Alabama to meet a stranger she befriended on Discord.
Another such case involved an underage girl who was in contact with an older man in his 30s. He was asking the girl about her inappropriate pictures and tried to engage in naughty cam activities. Another case happened in Washington where a 16-year-old girl was friends with an older guy who was demanding nude pictures and her home address. These cases reinforce the importance of parental controls for Discord.
Part 2. Discord's Built-in Safety Tools for Parental Control
As explained above, the platform comes with some features that parents can use to control the activities of their kids. In the following sections, we have explained what they are and how to set up Discord parental control features:
Method 1. Block Unwanted Communication
You can stop strangers from sending messages to your children by using the platform’s dedicated privacy features. These useful parental controls for Discord let you filter the messages for spam and prevent unknown people from contacting your kids. This way, you can ensure only the people they have befriended can text them. You can find the detailed steps to enforce these settings in the platform explained below:
Step 1. Press the Gear icon beside your profile name to head to the settings.
Step 2. Head to the Content and Social tab and choose Filter All under Direct Message Spam. Besides, ensure Direct Messages is disabled under Social Permissions.
Method 2. Block Unwanted Friend Requests
The platform allows you to stop strangers from sending friend requests to your child and limit their contact with unknown people. You get various options to choose from who can send a friend request, such as friends of friends or no one at all. In this way, parents can keep their child’s contact list safe and trusted. The procedure to enable these Discord parental control features is explained in the steps below:
Step 1. Go to the Settings using the Gear icon beside your profile name.
Step 2. Once you enter the Content & Social tab, toggle off the desired settings under the Friend Requests section.
Method 3. Filter Explicit Content from Child’s Account
Discord comes with a setting that automatically scans and blocks adult or sensitive messages to ensure kids aren’t exposed to them. This feature uses smart technology to filter messages with keywords and media that are not good for kids. Furthermore, this specific feature works in both public groups and personal DMs. Here is how to utilize this Discord app parental controls feature for your kids’ safety:
Step 1. Reach the platform’s Settings using the Gear icon beside your profile name.
Step 2. Afterward, go to the Content & Social tab and select Block by revealing the Direct Messages from Friends drop-down. Similarly, disable the Allow Access to Age-restricted Commands from Apps in Direct Messages and Allow Access to Age-restricted Servers on iOS options.
Part 3. How to Set Up Discord Parental Controls
Apart from the above features, Discord offers a Family Center where parents can monitor their kids’ activities. While it doesn’t come with any additional features, parents get the chance to know how many messages were sent and if the kids joined any servers. Notably, parents can’t see the content of the messages or other specific details. Yet, you can learn how to set up Discord parental control with these steps:
Step 1. Tap your Profile picture and hit the Gear icon to go to Settings. Afterward, you need to enter the Family Center tab.
Step 2. Head to the My Family tab and hit the Connect with Teen button. Enter the same tab on the kids’ phone and tap the Connect with Parent button. Following that, use the Reveal QR Code button and scan it from the parent’s phone.
Step 3. Through the desktop version, accept the parent request by hitting the Tick button in the Family Center tab.
Step 4. In the end, press the Accept Request button to allow parental monitoring.
Step 5. Now, enter the Family Center tab on the parent’s device and find the activity there.
Part 4. How to Monitor Your Kids' Digital Activities Beyond Discord
Since Discord app parental controls are limited to the platform’s premises, you will need third-party solutions for comprehensive control. FamiSafe is the ideal solution in this case, as this third-party application provides comprehensive control features that go beyond Discord. It can detect 14+ social media platforms for explicit content and report parents, unlike Discord. Furthermore, the app reports kids’ activity by taking their screens’ screenshots and sending them to parents.
Similarly, you can add limits on how much time the kids can spend playing games or using different apps. The app also has an Activity Report feature, which especially helps with providing insights about daily device usage. Parents can receive notifications about adult photos on their kids’ devices with this app. Its ability to provide driving reports and real-time location also makes it a comprehensive solution, unlike Discord’s limited controls.
Detailed Comparison of FamiSafe with Discord Parental Control Features
Being the better option, FamiSafe has various features that help ensure kids' safety outside Discord's domain. You can see how it holds against parental controls for Discord in the following detailed comparison:
Conclusion
To conclude, Discord's parental control features help parents ensure their kids’ safety, as it has security and privacy concerns. Users can block messages from unknown people and disallow others to send friend requests to their kids.
Furthermore, it filters adult content and ensures kids don’t see it in their messages or servers. Considering some of its limitations, the article introduced FamiSafe as a better solution for kids’ overall online well-being.
