Discord
A guide for families with key information about ‘Discord’, including the age rating, key terminology, risks and instructions for enabling parental controls and safety settings.
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How Discord works
Discord is a free social platform which allows users to find a community based around their hobbies. It is popular among gamers, who use it to communicate while playing games.
Users can communicate on Discord through video calls, voice chat and text chat. The platform adds an interactive and social element to gaming and other hobbies, especially for those who tend to play single player games or don’t have friends who share the same hobbies.
Minimum age requirements
According to Discord’s Terms of Service, users must be at least aged 13 and over to use the platform. However, the Apple App Store rates it as only being suitable for users aged 17 and over. This is due to the user-generated content, that might contain offensive language, and potential contact from strangers.
By default, users have sensitive content blurred and are unable to access age-restricted channels until they complete Discord’s age-verification process.
Features
Activity status
‘Activity status’ places a small green dot next to the Discord icon to show when a user is online.
Apps and activities
These are external services that can be integrated into Discord to give access to additional features. These can range from games to streaming services.
Bot
Short for ‘robot’. Bots on Discord are typically third-party extensions with a range of functions, from automatically moderating a chat with user-defined rules to creating welcome messages for new users to a server.
Channels
This is where users can interact with each other via voice or text chat or video.
Direct messages (DMs)
Users can direct message each other. Users can also video call via their direct messages or server’s voice channels.
Family Centre
An opt-in tool which helps you learn more about your child’s Discord activity and the communities they join. You can view an ‘Activity feed’ and receive weekly email summaries about your child’s usage.
Friends
Users can add friends via phone contacts, with someone’s Discord username and tag or via a nearby scan using a phone’s Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to find nearby friends.
Go Live
Users can stream their screen or gameplay in a voice channel so others in that channel can watch in real time.
Group direct messages
A group conversation that requires an invite to access the group.
Nitro
A premium subscription service which offers users special features such as:
- customised Discord tags
- the ability to use custom emotes (static and animated emojis that users design themselves) in every server
- a higher file upload cap
- discounted server boosts
NSFW
Stands for ‘Not Safe For Work’ and is used to label channels which contain adult content. Users need to verify their age to access NSFW content.
Server
This is the user’s space where they ‘hang out’ with friends. It is a designated virtual room for them and anyone they invite. Users can choose to set up servers for private groups, ‘For me and my friends’, public groups, or ‘For a club or community’.
Server boosts
Users within the same server community can work together to purchase a ‘Server boost’, which offers collective features and upgrades for those users.
Shop
This is where users can buy additional decorations for their profile and avatar.
Stage Channels
Stage Channels allow live audio-only conversations. The ‘Discovery’ feature helps users find public servers or events.
Student Hubs
Allows student users to verify their account with their school email to unlock an exclusive hub for students at their school. This allows users to join study groups or classes through the app.
What Discord offers
Socialising and community
Discord is often used to:
- connect with people who have similar interests
- communicate with others while gaming
This means that Discord can turn single-player games into a sociable activity.
Learning and education
Some Discord servers focus on education, such as ones where users share advice on coding, languages or art. Student Hubs can be used by young people to join study groups with their classmates.
Managing risks
Contact with strangers and inappropriate content
Almost all content on Discord is user-generated, so your child could be exposed to messages and chats featuring inappropriate language and media. However, there are steps you can take to reduce the risk of your child seeing inappropriate content from other users.
Adjust settings
By default, Discord will blur any sexual or graphic media sent by friends or in server channels, meaning users must click on the content to view it. Sexual or graphic media from strangers will be blocked altogether.
In the account settings, you can edit these controls so that your child can’t view any inappropriate media on the platform. You can also enable message filtering, to filter out any inappropriate messages.
Set up Family Centre
Discord Family Centre lets you view who your child interacts with on the platform. This means you can take action if your child is messaging someone you don’t know or is joining inappropriate servers.
Discuss safe online behaviour
Have a conversation with your child about what they do online. Encourage them to only join servers with people they know and trust in real life. This will reduce the chances of them interacting with strangers and being sent inappropriate content.
Explore blocking and reporting tools
Teaching your child how to use the block and report features on Discord will help them learn how to end contact with anyone that is making them uncomfortable.
Excessive screen time
Discord can be an addictive platform for young people. They might worry about missing out on conversations in a server or feel pressure to reply to messages instantly. Setting boundaries around screen time on Discord can help promote balance.
Set time limits
Within parental controls settings on most devices, you can set limits on how long your child can use apps like Discord each day. This can help prevent them from spending too much time on the app.
Adjust Discord settings
Encourage your child to disable their Discord notifications. Having notifications switched off prevents message alerts from distracting them from other things they should focus on.
Agree on boundaries
Talk with your child about how they use Discord and agree on when they can use the platform.
Overspending
Users can spend money on Discord by upgrading to a premium subscription called Nitro and by purchasing server boosts. This could encourage overspending as they might want to spend money in order to keep up with their friends.
You can do the following things to reduce the risk of your child overspending on Discord.
Review payment settings
On iOS and Android devices, you can adjust the settings so that purchases and payments require approval. This will stop your child making transactions on Discord without your permission.
Talk about spending
Speak to your child about in-app purchases and help them understand the value of money spent on the app by comparing it to things they could buy in the real world for the same amount.
Settings to protect your child
If your child uses Discord, the following settings can help them have a safer experience on the platform.
Set up Family Centre
Setting up Family Centre lets you link your Discord profile to your child’s account and view their activity on the platform. This means you can keep up to date with what they are doing on Discord and react to any concerning activity.
To set up Family Centre:
- on the Discord home screen, select ‘You’ in the bottom right corner
- select the gear icon in the top right
- in ‘Settings’, select ‘Family Centre’
- select ‘Connect with Teen’
- scan the QR code on your child’s screen
- ask your child to accept the link request
Block sensitive media
In the content settings, you can decide how your child sees media that is detected by Discord’s sensitive content filters. You can apply different settings for messages from friends, others and in server channels.
Blocking sensitive media (app)
- On the Discord home screen, select the ‘You’ icon.
- On the You page, select the gear icon.
- In the settings, navigate to ‘Content & Social’.
- Under the ‘Content’ heading, select whether you want to block or blur sensitive content from friends, others and in server channels.
Blocking sensitive media (website)
- On the Discord home screen, select the gear icon.
- In the settings, navigate to ‘Content & Social’.
- Under the ‘Content’ heading, select whether you want to block or blur sensitive content from friends, others and in server channels.
Review blocking and reporting tools
You can teach your child to keep themselves and the platform safer by making use of blocking and reporting tools. Explore these tools and talk with your child about when they should use them.
Block users
- Open a user's profile from the Members list.
- Select the 3 dots and choose ‘Block’.
- Select ‘Block’ again to confirm the action.
Report users
- Open a user's profile from the Members list.
- Select the 3 dots and select ‘Report User Profile’.
- Select the elements of the profile you are reporting and select ‘Next’.
- Select the policy violation you're seeing and share further information.
- Select ‘Submit Report’ to finalise the report.