EVERY TIME we visit a school we ask the students 'what do you do online?', without fail we hear "I play Roblox". Targeted to young digital users (13 and under) Roblox is a maker style, collaborative online game platform available on Smartphones, PC, tablets and Xbox. The true appeal of Roblox is not fancy graphics. It is the vast nature of how users can play, explore and create with freedom. Players can enjoy the challenge of navigating mazes and obstacles and simulating real life role play. Roblox allows its own users to create and generate their own games with their online game creation tool and have these published on the site for other Roblox users to play. Young users of Roblox have reported that sometimes these games are scary or have violent themes. They often share insights that they regularly play with people they do not know. Like all online games today, there are features that parents/guardians must be aware of, as well as some safety features within the settings that can protect young Roblox players.
 
Friend Requests
​The core purpose of Roblox is for players to roam, interact and make friends with other users. This is done by exploring the online world and talking with other players within the chat feature. Similar to any online multiplayer game, there is little control over the types of people or age limits of those playing the game. You do have the ability to delete friends by clicking on the friends menu, and the selecting the profile of the “friend” you want to “de-friend”. Form here you select “Unfriend” from their profile top right. You can restrict online interactions with different players via the Roblox website.

• Log-in to roblox.com.
• Click the Gear icon in the top right.
• Select Settings | Privacy.
• Restrict interactions via Content Settings and Other Settings.

Conversation Starters:
- Why should we only play with people we know?
- How can you tell if someone is real or a scam bot?
- What do you do when an unknown user talks to you?

Gaming Profile/Account are often overlooked as social networking. With many of todays games providing users with the ability to work in team and openly communicate. Users are able to connect and add other users granting access to their statistics and information provided. 
Embedded within the privacy settings and the initial account set up on these consoles it is important to accurately enter your child's year of birth as this automatically sets appropriate age restrictions for this age group. Through these settings you are able to choose the apps your child can access, set time limits, control purchases and who can communicate with them during game play. Here are some recommended actions for Xbox ONE and PlayStation 4 to add a layer of security and peace of mind.

How to Set up a CHILD account on:

PlayStation 4:
1.     Sign in or create an adult account.
2.     Go to Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management > Add > Family Member > Create User.
3.     You’ll need a Sony Entertainment network account for them. Adding the date of birth will indicate it's a child account.
 
Xbox ONE:
1.      Sign in or create an adult account.
2.      Select Settings > Family > Add to family > Add New.
3.      You will need a free Microsoft account.
4.      Choose from Child or Teen for the account type (different restriction exist depending on which one you select). Here you will also be turn on parental controls. These can easily be changed later.

A common feature of online gaming is the ability for strangers to communicate through multiplayer online games. Use the settings within these consoles to ensure that your children aren’t talking to strangers while they play games:
 
PlayStation 4:
1.      Go to Settings > Parental Controls/Family Management > Family Management.
2.      Select the child’s account.
3.      Select Applications/Devices/Network Features.
4.      Under 'Network Features' you can stop them communicating with or viewing content created by other players.
  
Xbox ONE:
1.      Go to Settings > All Settings > Account > Family and choose the child’s account
2.      Select Privacy & Online Safety. Here you can alter who can see your child when they’re online (no-one, friends and everyone) and whether they communicate by voice and text with them.
 
Regardless of the application, game or profile the power is in your hands. Whilst gaming and social networking platforms will not always promote their safety features as default, accessing the settings enable you to review how your information is used and gives you the power to decide ways other users can interact with you. Investing a few minutes of your time to work with your child to set things up right from the start is a powerful teachable moment that will assist with keeping them safer online.

Protect:
Most 'smart' tech based gifts require alignment and connection with a mobile phone or tablet App/Application. All of which will require users to create a User Profile and agree to the company's terms of service. Every App has its own set of service policies. We understand terms and conditions can be wordy and long and it is natural to want to move on quickly to the fun stuff. When scanning terms and conditions we recommend looking out for the following key elements:

• What are the legal age limits?
• Where is your data stored?
• How will your data be used?
• Is there a contact number or agency that you can contact directly if things go wrong?
• Are there links to parental control guides?

 
Prevent:

• Keep tech use and play to communal areas of your home - with the sound on!
• Play with the technology and games yourself
• Connect to the App regularly and monitor how it is being used, what data is being collected or uploaded.
• Talk to your children - regularly and often - about their online lives. This includes asking specific questions about how they are feeling when using the tech, who they are connecting with and how they feel after accessing the tool
• Develop a set of exit strategies with your children for if/when they feel things might be going wrong

 
TIP: Establishing an open and trusting relationship with your children about their digital habits enables you to have greater insight into their online behaviours and opportunities to prevent issues from occurring.  A child or teen is less likely to go to a parent if they believe they will banned from future use of a device, game or platform... So be strategic in how you respond when a child does come to you with a challenge or problem. Planning, prevention and protection are a critical combination for ensuring this trust between guardians and children is developed and maintained.
 
Safe Profiles:
When creating online profiles we recommend you:

• Create nicknames & non-identifiable email addresses
• Use avatars for profile photos
• Turn off location settings
• Set profiles to private

Big Mouth is an animation centred around a humorous view upon the modern adolescent. This series characterises a group of teens who are obsessed with sex and exploration of their genitalia and sexualities. Whilst much of this content is relatable and humorous to a mature audience you would be mortified to find your younger children exposed to the mature themes, animated nudity and sexual behaviours, drug and alcohol references and highly explicit language.
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​What makes this so inappropriate? Animated nudity, sexual references, explicit language and jokes referencing drugs and alcohol

Bojack Horseman is an animated series set in an alternate world, where humans and anthropomorphic animals live side by side. Bojack Horseman plans his big return to celebrity relevance through writing a tell-all autobiography about his life post his starring in a 1990's sitcom Horsin' Around. Alongside having a satirical take on current events, politics, and show business, BoJack Horseman underlying themes focus on dealing with depression, trauma, addiction and self-destructive behaviour.
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​What makes this so inappropriate? Substance abuse, violence, explicate language and adult themes.

Take advantage of parent controls in Netflix and ensure the following Netflix original Cartoon series too crass for kids are added to your Restricted Titles within the Netflix Parental Control settings.

#Netflix #ParentalControls​

OPTION 2: Add Parental Controls & Filters on standard Netflix profiles.

Add a Parental Control Pin:
You can set restrictions for the titles that young people in your household can access by setting a Parental Control Pin. This can be used to restrict the playback of certain content based on Maturity Level or by Specific Titles. The pin you set will appear when content over the certain maturity level.
​
Place restrictions of specific titles:
If you do not want specific titles appearing within the service, you can have these hidden from the library by entering the name of the show or movie you do not wish your children to view.

1. Select the profile you wish to add parental controls to and navigate to SETTINGS:

The new iOS 12 software update on Apple devices includes some easy to uses features that are already being praised by parents and families who use iOS devices. Each of the new additions to this update including Screen Time, Downtime and App Limit provide users with greater control around how much time you spend on your phone or device and more importantly provides users with the tools to help minimise and control the desire to be always connected. This blog will help you set up and understand each of these new and exciting features.
 
Screen Time
Once you have updated to iOS 12, within the Settings section of your device there will be a new section called Screen Time. On opening Screen Time for the first time you will be prompted to Turn on Screen Time. Once the feature is turned on you'll find a breakdown that shows just how much time you're spending on all iOS devices linked to the same iCloud account. 

Screen Time breaks down usage for the current day, as well as the past 7 days. An alert will be received by the user that provides with a weekly report from the previous week that breaks down how much screen time has been spent on each device and within which applications. 
Screen Time even provides users with an accurate account of how often a device or phone is being pick up, which apps you used the most after picking up your phone, and how many notifications you receive from apps. All great stimulus to have authentic and data driven conversations about digital uses within your family around how you and your children are using devices.

Downtime
The Downtime feature provides parents with far greater control over when your child can access their favourite applications and can also help parents address negative habits you might be witnessing in your child’s digital behaviour, like scrolling through Instagram late at night. Downtime is a time-based setting and is easy to set up and operate.
 
To start, open the Settings app and select Screen Time. Within this menu page there is a clearly labelled option called Downtime. Downtime can set a scheduled time at which the device essentially locks itself down, restricting access to all but a handful of apps such as Phone, Messages, and FaceTime. If you want to use Downtime, but need access to more than just Phone, Messages and FaceTime, you can pick which apps you'll be able to use in Screen Time -----> Always allowed.
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The ability to activate Downtime at bedtime is an opportune and simple way to force yourself and family members to stop checking Snapchat, Facebook, WhatsApp and countless more apps.

The craze that is Fortnite: Battle Royale has hit an all-time high during recent months. Released in September 2017, its frenzy and popularity has many parents asking plenty of questions. With school holidays being upon us, it was the perfect fortnight to immerse ourselves in the game Fortnite and learn as much as we could. This blog entry will answer the 3 most common questions, the Cyber Safety Project is being asked by parents about Fortnite and provide some easy to implement tips within your household.

Is there a difference between Fortnite and Fortnite: Battle Royale?
Yes, yes there is! Fortnite is a solo version called Save the World and the massively popular multiplayer version is called Fortnite: Battle Royale. If your kids are asking to play “Fortnite” they're most likely wanting to play  Fortnite: Battle Royale version.
The quick summary is that Fortnite: Battle Royale sees up to 100 people participate in a single match together. Players parachute from a party bus onto an island, where they must collect weapons, build structures; all while trying to avoid being killed by other players. While this is going on, a randomly chosen safe zone and moving storm reduces the playing areas within the island and keeps the game moving. All this takes place so that players can ultimately be the last one standing and have “#1 Victory Royale” plastered across the players screen.
Players then quickly reset another match, parachute out of the Party Bus and do it all again and again and again.

Why is my child so interested in playing Fortnite and is it appropriate?
There are many reasons why Fortnite has taken off with children. One is that it combines two extremely popular genres that young children have enjoyed in past - building and survival. 

Fortnite allows users to play with friends in Duos and Squads, creating a more social element. Children love the fact that they play with their friends! There are also opportunities to view and watch others playing the game (friends, celebrities, top players) on secondary platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. This again proves challenging with increased screen time in doing so. 

For some parents, the cartoonish style of game play and bloodless action within Fortnite and Fortnite: Battle Royale makes the violence seem less problematic; yet there is consistent, encouraged and regular violence throughout every game.
Fortnite: Battle Royale does include live, unfiltered chat between users in the console and PC versions. The voice chat and on-screen text chat are options. Given the average age of a Fortnite: Battle Royale users are men between the age of 18 - 24 years old male, unfortunately this means that users are likely to be exposed to profanity as well as people that they don’t know.

The chat feature can be switched off and is certainly encouraged, if your child is playing collaboratively.  In answering whether Fortnite is appropriate it’s important to look at the emotions that are experienced within the game itself.  
Children playing Fortnite can become easily frustrated and emotional following consistent failures within consecutive matches. These reactions and management of emotions for younger children derive from desire to do well and win. How a child reacts to a loss or even a win; its importance is often a great indicator to parents to whether the game is suitable or not. Monitoring your child’s ability to ‘switch off’ to do other activities and self-regulate themselves and their emotions should always be a priority while they engage in any digital game or device use.

How can I manage screen time for my children when they're playing Fortnite?
One of the most common concerns that parents raise with us is how to effectively manage screen time within the home. There are some easy measures that can be taken to monitor and manage screen time for children (and adults) playing Fortnite.

When playing Fortnite: Battle Royale, one match can very quickly turn into 15 without limits being put in place. Games usually last around 20 minutes and the quick-fire nature of game play provides an obvious stopping point to ‘switch off’ at the end of a match.  However, children that find it difficult to self-regulate get trapped in the cycle of saying “just one more game”.

As a parent, monitoring how many games your child has played can be viewed within the ‘LOBBY’ section.  From there you will need to navigate to the users (see image below). This sections details games played and even the total playing time of individual users. This section is great way to set explicit limits around certain number of matches per day.
The images below show you how to find see total matches played and time spent playing.

​Our Top 3 tips for parents whose children are playing Fortnite: Battle Royale are:

1. Set limits and monitor how many matches are being played.  Use the information available to you to monitor the amounts of games and total time played.  Encourage your child to show independence in ‘switching off’ themselves.
2. Promote transparency through always ensuring children play in an area of the home where you as a parent can see the screen. 
3. Discuss associated emotions with your child and ask them how the game play makes them feel. Use the game as an opportunity for your child to learn to regulate their emotions appropriately and practice strategies to manage anger or disappointment after a loss.  

 
#cybersafetyproject