Every week e-safety adviser Alan Mackenzie sends me weekly updates. They are useful teaching resources but also parent guides to keep you up to date with current trends.
Here is this week’s tip:
Roblox – Major Update to In-Game Reporting Tools
Roblox, the most popular game in the world, has been making some pretty big changes over the last few months. Midway through June they announced their new age-based Kids and Select accounts where children are being automatically placed into more specific age categories. Then, over the last few days, Roblox has announced big new changes to in-game reporting tools.
Users have always been able to report within Roblox, but it can often be quite complex finding a specific category, which is why some children don’t bother reporting at all. But Roblox have now stated that this process has been simplified so that questions are automatically adapted based on the type of report, skipping any irrelevant question and making the reporting process much better.
Link: Roblox – major update to in-game reporting tools.
Article – Why is Turning Off Screens So Hard for Children?
Techno-tantrums – what every parent dreads when asking their child to end a game or activity. Many online activities that children enjoy, such as games, YouTube and (in particular) social media are designed to be engaging, persuasive and grab attention and this is what often makes it particularly frustrating.
It’s often a difficult one, what is right for one family may not be good advice for another, but an article in The Conversation piqued my curiosity because it gives parents some options to consider, so I think it’s worth sharing with your parents as there may be something here that they haven’t considered.
Link: why is turning off screens so hard for children?
AskAboutGames – New Parental Resources
AskAboutGames has always been an incredibly useful resource for parents with lots of advice and guidance for parents in relation to children and gaming. Recently they have released two new resources:
• The Power-Up Pact – which is all about starting conversations around safe gameplay so that video games can fit into family life.
• Conversation guide – as well as video games in the Power-Up Pact, this guide helps parents keep the conversations going by asking about apps, websites and online spaces children use every day.
