ROBLOX
Roblox allows users to create their own virtual worlds and play with other people on a range of platforms, including mobile phones and Xboxes. By creating things, players can earn “Robux” to buy accessories, additional skills or more tools and materials to build with.

What do I need to be aware of? There is a chat facility within Roblox. For users aged 12 and under, Roblox automatically enforce more restricted settings so they can only directly message other friends (that they’ve accepted) but does your child know all their ‘friends’ on Roblox?

Are they signed up with their right age? Players age 12 and younger have their posts and chats filtered both for inappropriate content and behaviour and to prevent personal information from being posted. Players age 13 and older have the ability to say more words and phrases, but inappropriate chat and sharing personal information should be restricted. To adjust the chat and interaction settings of your child's account:

• Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner and click Settings.
• On the right hand side of the Settings page click the Privacy option. Users and their parents may also enable an Account PIN which requires a 4-digit code to make changes to the account.

Can I see what my child is doing on Roblox? Roblox has several ways to see the history for certain activities. When logged in, you can view the following histories:

• Private message history
• Friends and Followers
• Virtual item purchase and trade history
• Chat history with other players

For more information, Roblox have created this parent’s guide: https://corp.roblox.com/parents/

TIME TO GO ONLINE TOGETHER?
Think U Know is a great resource for parents and carers to use, to help navigate possible issues with online use. https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/

Think U Know have produced some useful conversation starters and advice to help you talk to your child about staying safe online:

• Ask your child about the games, sites and apps they like to use. What do they like about them? Is there anything they don’t like?
• If your child enjoys playing games where they interact with people they don’t know, make sure they understand that it is not safe to share personal information like their name, school, and phone number with people they meet in the game. Explain that if anyone says anything that worries or upsets them, they should tell you or another trusted adult straight away.
• Help your child manage the privacy settings on their apps to ensure that they are only sharing things with friends they know and trust in real life. If your child likes sharing photos or videos with people they know in real life discuss safer ways they could do this e.g. sending via email, messaging service or private link.

Find out how to block and report someone in each game, site and app they use and discuss with your child

• Tell your child that they can come to you if something goes wrong online, that they won’t be in trouble and you will be able to help.

7 DAY FAMILY ONLINE SAFETY CHALLENGE
The challenge involves a simple daily task for parents and carers to complete, to help kick-start their journey in helping protect their children. The tasks include reviewing privacy settings, researching the apps and games their children use and creating an online family safety contract.

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/sites/default/files/2020-04/7-day-family-online-safety-challenge.pdf