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Roblox Safety and Parenting with Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov

• Donna Moala

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In this powerful episode of the Parenting Collective Podcast, I sit down with Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov, Global Head of Parental Advocacy at @roblox, to unpack one of the biggest concerns modern parents face, keeping kids safe online without fear-based parenting.

With over 15 years in digital safety, Dr. Elizabeth shares what’s really happening behind the scenes at Roblox, from advanced AI moderation and facial age estimation to parental controls designed to empower families, not overwhelm them.

If you have ever worried about:

  • Is Roblox safe for kids?
  • How do I manage gaming during school holidays?
  • What are the best parental controls for online games?
  • How can I guide my child without constant monitoring?

This episode is for you.

We dive into:
 ✨ How Roblox is creating safer, age appropriate gaming experiences
 ✨ The truth about online safety vs media fear
 ✨ Practical digital parenting strategies that actually work
 ✨ Why “connection before correction” matters more than ever
 ✨ How to build trust so your child comes to you (not hides things)

This is not about banning screens or controlling every move, it’s about becoming a digital guardian your child trusts.

Whether you are parenting young kids, tweens, or teens, this conversation will leave you feeling more confident, informed, and empowered in today’s digital world.

Follow Roblox: 

Website: https://www.roblox.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/roblox/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roblox

Twitter/X: https://x.com/roblox

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@roblox

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/roblox


Follow Dr. Elizabeth Milovidov: 

Website: https://www.digitalparentingcoach.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethmilovidov/

I would appreciate it greatly if you could please LIKE and FOLLOW this podcast and if you are not following me over on instagram, head over there for all of my top tips and advice around sleep and parenting @parentingcollective.au.  I also offer a free 15 minute phone chat to run through all your questions CLICK here to book your FREE 15 minute chat

Much Love 💞

Donna Moala 
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SPEAKER_00

Hello and welcome to this week's episode. Always excited, super excited as I am. There was a little bit of research and talking behind the scenes around this episode. I'm really, really honored and grateful that the team at Roadblocks had contacted me to have Dr. Elizabeth Molobodov here on Parenting Collective Podcast. She's the global head of parental advocacy at Roadblocks. So they've actually created that role for her. She is an incredible woman. She has been in the digital safety space for over 15 years, which is a long time and really sort of a pioneer because it would have only sort of just been coming out around then. So she is a lawyer, law professor, keynote speaker. She's worked all around the world, still does. So she researches solutions to empower parents to guide their children in the digital age. And she's a firm believer, which I really love, that children can have really positive, creative, educational, entertaining digital experiences through social media, online video games. She's worked for Microsoft, Lego, the list goes on. Her working at Roblox, she's so passionate talking to parents, having parents speak about what's going on on ground level. Then she takes it back to the roadblocks for them to keep editing and fixing and making things easier for the parents and making it safer for the children. So there's so many amazing things that have been created behind the scenes of Roblox to keep our kids safe, for them to enjoy the platform, but also to make it easy for the parents to understand about the safety and how to do that. So we had some fantastic conversations around this. She is such a beautiful woman, very passionate with what she does. She is a mum of two boys, 16 and 19, as we celebrated that we've made it. So she obviously has a passion around that and living and breathing being a parent. She has amazing digital parenting workshops. She's just such an inspiration to speak to. We were saying at the end that I think we'll do a part two, talking about younger kiddos being introduced to Roblox. There's some really amazing games with learning, and parents can be involved. So watch this space for that. So I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. Always love your feedback. Speak to you soon. Hello, Dr. Elizabeth, and thank you so much for arriving here on Parenting Collective Podcast. I am really excited to be here. All the way from London, flying around the world, doing the global job that you do. The work that you're doing for parental advocacy at Roblox is obviously so important. And I was just talking to you here in Australia. Roblox has talked about a lot, but I think there's a lot of miscommunication around the safety and things like that. So it's going to be amazing to be able to share the truth behind what's going on in Roblox and how amazing it is. I'm glad that you realised that. Yes. There's a lot going on. There is so much going on. I was thrilled to for you for Roblox to reach out, but talking to your team behind the scenes and understanding it's truly amazing. When I hear things, I'm like, people need to know the safety precautions that are going on. So especially in the world, you know, where there's so many parents trying to navigate that space. And Roblox is a well-used, round-the-world fun gaming app, isn't it really? Or gaming platform. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

More than 140 million active daily users. I mean, that's amazing. It's amazing. It really is amazing.

SPEAKER_00

So I'd really love for you to share not just about your being, your expertise around what you're doing for Roblox there, but also your lived experience being a mum. So you understand the importance of safety for children and adult children, but the conversations that you have and sort of what's happening behind the scenes in regards for parents to understand the safety behind Roblox. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Donna, no, seriously, this is just an incredible opportunity to be able to speak to Australian parents. I was just there last year, and I'll be back in August because really I'm Yeah, I am trying to reach parents where they are. So my role is global head of parental advocacy. And as you already know, I'm a lawyer and a law professor, and I've been a digital parenting expert for more than 15 years. Wow. Oh yeah. Right at the beginning. I would love to say that I coined the phrase digital parenting, but I don't think I did. I don't think I did. Yeah. And I was this close to getting the domain name digitalparenting.com before somebody else got it, literally like two days before me. So this was really, really in the beginning. And so with all of that, with all of that expertise and background of having spoken to children and to parents and being a consultant in Europe and the United States, Roblox picked me up and hired me to be the voice of parents. And that is the same work that I've been doing when I was working at NGOs, when I was freelancing, is to just sort of, you know, take parental concerns and bring them to industry, bring them to government as I was doing before, and really just say, hey, this is what's going on. This is how parents feel. And, you know, we're a little overwhelmed, we're a little anxious, and all of those things. And so within Roblox, I want to make sure that their voices are being heard, especially by the people that are building and creating Roblox experiences.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, amazing. Oh, incredible. And like I said, I was so blown away with the thing is I sounded so naive. Well, I was very naive because I knew about Roblox, children, all of as much as I could, no. But understanding the levels of how the lengths that it's taken is is is amazing. I think everyone needs to know, like I said, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_01

So I would even add, Donna, that that it's not just my role to educate parents on Roblox, but it's to give them confidence. And again, the same things that I was doing before to talk about social media. I know that you mentioned you have daughters, I'm sure, you know, social media is a topic, but it's to get them to thrive on Roblox and beyond.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh, fantastic. So it's not just robots, which is great. So in regards to when, especially when we're coming up to Easter time, so it can be like an evergreen thing for any kind of holidays, we, you know, the things parents, as the children get older, of course, we can't completely limit it all the time. They're going to find ways to get around it. With parents coming into times where children will be by themselves a little bit more and obviously wanting to be on the game, game platforms. Are there any sort of suggestions that as a mum, but as an expert as well, how they could sort of integrate, obviously the kids being able to be on the gaming platform, but still be able to feel that they're in a safe situation if they're working and not watching all the time.

SPEAKER_01

Right. Well, I think um, you know, if I were to sit there and say three top tips, right, is to it's just to keep it simple. I know. And if you forget the other two, the most important is to talk with your children. You know, talk with them about what the game experience is, play with them if you can. Um, for those of you who have younger children, parental controls, link those parental accounts, get in there. You know, I know that sometimes people don't realize that they're there. Um, and you know, I'm even gonna preempt you and tell you that when I started 10 months ago, um, I also linked up uh my parental controls and parental, and it was a little bit of a challenge, took a little bit of time. And so Roblox has been listening to parents, and I'm saying this, and we are right now changing that access to make it even easier so that way busy parents can be able to just, you know, click and go. Um but for me, the most important, and I'm sure you've experienced this with your with your girls, is those communications because then you understand what they're doing, what they're playing. But you know, don't forget your house, your rules. So set up boundaries. I know boundaries. I know. It's the same, right? Balancing boundaries and and let them know that, you know, um they can play Roblox or be online or you know, get into their social media feeds after they've done what you need them to do, which is chores, getting outside, being creative, uh, those types of things. So, like I said, I think we can we can we can figure it out and keep it simple.

SPEAKER_00

I we can figure it out, and it seems so simple, but we get so caught up in the busyness that people parents just need dot points. Tell me what to do. So a little bit of deep diving into the parental controls, and and say, for example, we're just gonna talk about roadblocks. Yeah. And like I said, it's learning a lot about it, about age appropriate, um, um facial recognition, which is an option if the parents aren't okay with that. But can you talk into that a little bit in regards to uh is it easy for them to find the parental controls? And um, you know, is it yeah, where do they find that?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So I mean, yes, it's easy to find, um, and it will become even easier to walk you through. But the first thing that you're going to do is you're going to want to get your device and you're going to want to create um a Roblox account, right? So that's just Roblox.com. So after you have created this account, because you have to create your parent account, you will get in there, you will um verify your own age that says that you are the parent, and then you're gonna link your account to your child's account. Okay. Once it's linked, you will have a parental um um control dashboard and you'll be able to see everything. You know, you'll be able to limit communications and chat and spending and time. Uh and so, and and but but before you just you know get in there and start toggling things, sit down with your child and explain to them why you're doing this, you know, and explain it together. I found that with my own boys, when I would say things like, Well, we don't need chat, you know, your friends are, you know, right here, or back then you pick up the landline, which was fun so that we could talk at the same time. Oh, we could go back to that sometime.

SPEAKER_00

Let me tell you, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01

But but it's just the idea that you're explaining to them, you know, why. And you're also saying it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that, you know, there's a lot of um kids out there on this game. So let's just, you know, limit um what we're doing and make sure we have age-appropriate experiences. And if they can't do any of that, the quickest fix is just to go in and put account restrictions. You toggle that, chat is off, and you absolutely have child-friendly experiences.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, fantastic. And it is about walking beside them, isn't it? And it's we're talking about conscious parenting and it and the sort of parenting we need we need to try to do in this day and age. It really is as they get older, instead of just telling them what to do, that doesn't work all the time. It's it's walking beside them, understanding it, and then explaining to them. So they're part of the conversation rather than you just telling them what to do, because often they'll then find other ways around it for other things, you know. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

And and I know that she I'm studied with Dr. Shafali, and it's just like I have really taken so much of her learnings as far as her teachings with it rather, as far as you know, conscious parenting and just brought it into the digital age because it is applicable. It is the same lesson. So applicable. It's the same lessons, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

Just when when things get a little bit out of hand as parenting, as it does for whatever time and reason, it's become it's fear as parents, isn't it? We just fear anything, or stop it. But that's not always the best way. It's like let's learn about it, let's understand that any everything behind that and um how I can support the children to walk beside them to learn, to be part of the clean. Oh my gosh, stop it. You're preaching to the choir. Exactly. Yes, it's amazing. And the thing is, I just having the three kids and they're getting older, the more that you just say no, you can't do that, it just causes so much more friction and and they don't learn. They don't learn. Exactly. That's the thing, right?

SPEAKER_01

We are trying to teach them, we are trying to educate them, and we want them to act a certain way when we're not in the room. You know, we do that. If you were talking about offline stuff, we do that with food, right? We sit there and we give them healthy choices and we say you need to have the cookie after, but do all of this because when they're at school or without us, we want them to make those healthy choices. It's this same online where you're sitting there and you're talking to them and saying, you know, no chat, you need to understand how to block and mute. So that way when you're not in the room, if something, as I say, icky happens, they will know what to do. That same resilience that we're building in the offline world. We have to build it online.

SPEAKER_00

Love that. It's so true. And when I was talking to your team as well, understanding all the safety, security stuff, the facial recognition, I think not recognition, but the age appropriate recognition was great because again, correct me if I'm wrong, it enables kids to play with same-age children. What someone also said, and I could be wrong, is that Roblox isn't private, meaning if there's that you have a very extensive sort of security, e-security, which yeah, you can try and think of the right words. The e-security in regards to um robust filters. Yes, robust, I was trying to robust filters. So bullying, swearing, even grooming sentences and stuff, or people wanting, you know, all of those sort of things. Can you sort of explain a little bit about what that is?

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. So you're talking about two different things. One, you're talking about our facial age estimation, which we recently became the very first online uh gaming platform to require facial age checks for users of all ages. And obviously, this is to make sure that we don't have children speaking with adults and adults um pretending to be children, right? So we want everybody to have the right age. And so we want to make sure that it is a positive, age-appropriate experience for everyone. So let me just explain facial age estimation really quickly. Basically, if you want to access chat and communication features, then through the Roblox app, you're prompted to take just a quick photo, like a little selfie. And once you finish that, um, it goes through a check. It's not Roblox. We do not have this. It is a third-party named persona. They will verify your age. And after that, after the check, that photo is deleted. So for parents and caregivers who are worried about privacy, don't worry, we don't see it, it's gone. And that's it. Once your age is established, you are in the age-appropriate experience. And you play with the people of your age group. It's kind of like being really like in the schoolyard, right? You don't have third graders and nine-year-olds out there playing with the 18-year-olds. You're playing with your right age. But the second thing that you had mentioned was moderation, really. And so, yes, Roblox, it's it's not private. They monitor everything. It's just kind of, you know, so just realize that people, they monitor everything. So they're really, there are tough filters on communications. And so that's where, if, for example, you mentioned the bullying, the profanity, anything that's inappropriate, those filters will pick it up. Yeah. Um sometimes you're gonna say, but sometimes something must have slipped through. And it's just like, well, the years ago, yes, I'm sure this is why they're constantly innovating. There's AI moderation, there's human moderation. We have Sentinel, which the name, just as it says, and it just rolled out last year last year or the year before. So Sentinel is our AI technology, same thing, just all the time looking for inappropriate content. And Sentinel is so cool that we that we've let it be open source so that way anyone can use it. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's a lot of cool things out there, but I think yes, but this really but again, Donna, you have to dig in and you have to ask those questions and to understand. And I think part of my role as well is doing a better job to educate parents and create this awareness so that way they know and it'll reduce the fear and they can realize that they do have way more control than they think. But I also want to reassure parents that if there are any signs of inappropriate contact or things on the platform, we immediately escalated to law enforcement. And, you know, I am gonna again preempt you just a tiny bit because some of the things that people have read in the media, you know, it was already pulled down. It was, you know, it was something that was up for just a minute or two. The AI caught it, but somebody took a screenshot and then shared it on another social media platform and it became a big thing. And if you go and look for it, you can't find it. So, you know, parents dig in there and speak with other parents as well. I think that's really, really important because you you can make this an age-appropriate playing experience for your child. You really can.

SPEAKER_00

The more I got to know you guys and Roblox, I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Like all the other platforms, we have no idea. Where are they? Where, you know, all the all of these things, I wouldn't have a clue where all the safety and security is, but to to speak to your team and and understanding with Roblox, I was, I was just like, this is amazing. And what it comes down to is yes, I know I'm asking a lot about what Roblox is doing and your incredible role, but it still comes back to the parental role. So I would not, for anything in this world, just expect the safety to be there without me understanding something. You know, as a parent, so I'm little, you still have to walk beside them, you still have to do that part, you still have to understand. I would have all the toggles on that you needed and the age appropriate and stuff for sure, but I'd be checking in regularly, checking the chat.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00

You know, those sort of things, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But this is it, Donna. You're acting as a digital guardian, right? You're you're building trust with them, you're setting boundaries, you're helping them along and you're keeping those honest conversations because something that I saw with my own boys is that, you know, and they told me anything and everything, sometimes too much, but I was like, Oh, well, that's good. It's so good, yeah, they're really good.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it's really good. It's like I'll deal with this later, but I know, and you better not get worried about it.

SPEAKER_01

Like, okay, thank you for really so that way you can keep listening and they keep sharing because that is the best way that you can, you know, guide them because there is a lot of stuff going on. And I think so important is just to keep reinforcing that you trust them and that you are trying to help them make the right decisions. And that's what I do.

SPEAKER_00

That's what it's all about with people in the trust, yeah, it is. And all the other big thing that I talk about all the time is connection before correction, which is Dr. Shapali talks about bringing up for all the time. But it's really, you know, something might happen and it might have been something that your child did. But instead of getting really angry and, you know, correcting them, take a breath, understand what's happened, and understand that it's a time that you can actually teach and keep connected. So then the next time it happens, or they'll set they'll second guess it next time, or the next time it happens, they'll come to you. So that's the whole thing in regards to this um yeah, digital you call it digit, not digital police, you call it digital digital guardian. Digital guardian. Yeah, digital guardian. Yeah, we want to we don't want to be police.

SPEAKER_01

We don't want to be police.

SPEAKER_00

Police does yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no. We want to guide and we want to walk hand in hand with them. But I love everything that you're saying with Dr. Shafali's teachings because it's so true. This connection before correction, and we again bringing that into the online world. So, you know, Donna, what would you do if your daughters, I don't know, they they show you something inappropriate in the social media feed, right? You're not gonna freak out and then shut down all social media forever, take their devices, everything away, lock them in the house, right? We have to sit there and talk to them and understand, you know, what's going on. Well, why did you feel the need to look at this material? And who sent that to you? And, you know, well, what are you thinking? I mean, every single moment online is it is a teachable moment. And so I mean, that's that is really, like I said, so much of my job is to keep parents calm, to keep them educated. So that way they're aware that they have more control than they think they do.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, absolutely. And and that's that's amazing. It's not just a platform for you know the people to play and stuff. It's like so many things behind it. Oh, yeah. So create a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01

You can create, you can, you can do anything.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, it's it's so great. And the thing is, you know, again, having the three kiddos that are older and everything we went through, you can't just stop things. You can't just go, oh my gosh, they saw that. Like you said, you can't just shut them off because it will just create anxiety and it's not how the world works now, you know. So you have to be able to, and I will keep saying it, walk beside them and understand it. Like you have to understand what they're looking at, don't you? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

And and just to even give you, again, uh an offline example, you know, what would you do if well I have boys, so it's a bit of an easier example with boys. Well, I guess you never know, right? But let's say we find a little inappropriate magazine under the bed, right? You know, what do you do in the offline world? Well, you talk to them and you're like, okay, who gave you that magazine? And why are you looking at it? Yeah, what what's going on here? And you know, and how would you feel if that was your brother or your sister or etc., right? You you talk them through it. You don't just say you're never gonna read a magazine again.

SPEAKER_00

I know, and rip it up and send them. And and the thing is it's age appropriate, like to understand what's normal for age appropriate. So teenagers, they do want to push boundaries, they're like toddlers. And it's like, let's not be frightened, it's like, like we keep saying, is understanding it and being calm. We can't always be calm, but the more that we understand, and that, you know, for someone like yourself that's the head of the global parental advocacy, you know, that is really great. And so for that, with such a big global company, are eight people able to get in contact with you? Are they able to email you? You know, or can they do anything like that? Like, or or is it sort of how would they be able to if they had a question? Or like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, you know what? I'm gonna make it simpler and just say, reach out on LinkedIn. Uh lovely, excellent. That keeps it simple. And that's also where I'm putting out a lot of content for Roblox. But we are working on some things as well this year. So hopefully I'll be able to have some social media channels to speak directly to parents. So I'm just putting it out there, putting it out into the universe, wishful thinking, affirmations, manifesting.

SPEAKER_00

And it's not enough time in the day sometimes, is it? But but the thing is, you know, it's great to be able to put a face to what you're doing and anatomy. And um I think it really does change. The world is such a complex, fast-paced, uh, you know, anxious-driven place, but it's actually a beautiful place too. And the thing is, again, being a parent of older kiddos, is letting go of fear and just being yourself educated around it and not having to stop and and not be driven by fear all the time. It's it's okay. Like understanding everything that works behind it is really important. Right. I think that's true.

SPEAKER_01

It's so true. But I also would encourage parents to, you know, seek out opposing views, right? Because we get into our problems where we start hearing something, and it's like when you when you hear a different viewpoint, you're like, oh, really? And so that's something that I've also seen with the parent council that I created. It's so exciting, the great first one.

SPEAKER_00

So can you tell us a little bit about that too? Because that sounds really amazing, a little bit about the parent council.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it is amazing. So the idea is that, as I said, I always want to be the voice for parents. And you've seen youth councils and teen councils, you know. Coming up. And in fact, my son is on the TikTok youth council, and I myself helped started the Microsoft one in Europe. Yeah. So I've been in this space for a while. And so the idea when I got to Roblox was, you know, let's do the same thing for parents. You know, we need to hear from them. So we went out, we sent out applications, and we have 80 parents from North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. We do have a few from Australia. And so this way we get to hear everybody's views. And the group got so big, so fast with that number of applications that we also opened up a champion network. And I would say if anybody's interested in the champion network, that's kind of a rolling thing where people can always get involved. So again, reach out to me on LinkedIn. And the idea there is that we, if we come to your town, if we come to where you are, we will convene you. But if not, everything else is just by email, because obviously with our council, that's the true focus. So what do we do? They get to meet with our teams, the internal teams. So let's say we were talking about parental controls or moderation, and someone says, I'm having trouble. Then I will bring them in. We will have the people from the teams there to actually answer their questions. And Donna, it's amazing because number one, the internal people get to hear on the boots on the ground what is happening. Because you know, this is what's happens in so many of these tech companies is that they're creating these things, they're in a vacuum. They're like, oh my God, this is great. I can create this, but it's not always the most practical thing for somebody who's actually using it. So that is what's happening behind the scenes. And I absolutely love it. Even last week, I mean, and we do a lot of impromptu things, which is why I'm saying we're coming to Australia. So look out. Let's share that. I'll show you that. No, I'm gonna find you and say, come on, Donna, come with me. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, what are the things that we did last week? There was the UK Trust and Safety Summit, and we had our chief safety officer coming out, Matt Kaufman. And I was like, this is a great opportunity, Matt. You want to meet some of the parents? And he's like, Yeah. So we did like a small luncheon with UK parents and champions. Donna, when I tell you those parents went for it, they went for it. It was awesome, but this is what we want. We want to hear everything. And they were talking about their awesome experiences, they were talking about some of the challenges. And Matt was like, This is great. Okay. And so, and they're already working on it. That is the idea. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

Goose bumps, goosebumps. Us humans haven't changed. You know, this is the thing of you know, work with so many people, I meet so many amazing people, and I work with so many families. Us humans haven't changed. Us mums, the children, but the world has. So we still need that personal connection. And even know how big Roblox is to know it's still so personable is was insane for me. I was like, my gosh, this is amazing. This is so interesting. No, we're here. We're people, you're fun. You're a lot of people not in the cloud or somewhere else, like I was saying on my Instagram. I'm like, really real people. And other things are real people. Are real people, and everybody I've dealt with are just beautiful and talk very highly of Roblox and its company. But also um that um, you know, the the founder and the CEO are still very heavily part of it. Um he has four children himself. And I just love to hear all about that. And I think if I loved hearing that for the safety of my my kids, even though a bit older, um I know that my listeners and my followers will be like, oh my gosh, this is just amazing. So you darn it. It's it was the same for me.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, I started, I'd been uh at the Lego group before, I had been at Microsoft before, these huge, huge companies. And then I get here and Dave Bazookie sets up a call and he's like, if you need anything, let me know. And I'm like, I didn't?

SPEAKER_00

I know.

SPEAKER_01

I was like, this is so cool. So, so cool. So, yeah, it really is that amazing and that real. And um, like I said, we're we're we're doing we're doing what we can.

SPEAKER_00

We really are, and we're really really and I think we're going to you know touch the tip of the iceberg, really. But um, I think hopefully the listeners are hearing how much work goes beyond that goes beyond just the app, you know, and so much is going on all the time.

SPEAKER_01

All the time, and it's innovating all the time. Like I said, I think that in in the next couple of weeks, just to get you excited, there should be some new changes. That's all I'm gonna say. Yeah, there's always something. I mean, just last week we changed some chat, then before that we had facial age estimation. Um, so that we're working on parental controls right now and also um making even the account linking even easier. So there's always, always something. So I just love that.

SPEAKER_00

I love that because it things are always ever-evolving. And I'm sure you would have heard here in Australia that uh they've worked very, very hard to stop have a social media ban till 16. Yes, I was there. You're younger than you call us. It's absolutely spectacular, too far gone for me. Definitely social media for my middle child destroyed our relationship at times. It was really bad because we were kind of at the beginning of and I tried to do everything I could, but there just wasn't the support. So I'm so happy for all the younger parents now that it might not, you know, be working for everyone quite now, but you know, as over the years roll out, it's going to be spectacular that kids, you know, whatever they're on, will be able to be parental controlled and they can kids to succeed or at least, you know.

SPEAKER_01

Completely agree that they can stay kids. And and Julie Eneman Grant, I adore her, and everything that is your Eve Safety Commissioner and everything that she's trying to do. And even she said, you know, there's there's gonna be some hiccups, it's gonna take, it's gonna take some time. But for me, I think the biggest win for all parents and families with the whole Jonathan Hayde Anxious Generation controversy is that it got people talking. I don't always agree with Jonathan Hayde. Um my son also wrote an article in the NPR. If anybody wants to look, yeah, and he said in Anxious Generation. And he was talking about, you know, how it's not just social media climate change, it's the war, it's after the pandemic, it's everything. You know, they have there's a lot of things going. We can't just blame it on one thing. But to reassure parents, I do get it because devices, whether it's gaming consoles or social media, it can become overwhelming. So less is always more. And I do think that um, you know, the the the ban is one way. Unfortunately, it wouldn't have been my way, but it is one way to get things going. And then they're gonna they're gonna make and shift and make allowances because they, you know, there's so much great social connection. My niece has Down syndrome, she wasn't able to see anyone who looked like her until she was on Instagram, you know. There's so many benefits to it, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00

It's like let's talk about Roblox, you know. Before I got to know your team and everything, I only had a certain view on it because of what's shown in the media. It's incorrect. It's incorrect, right? Yes, everyone media is scaremongering all the time. And so I'm a researcher. When things happen, I want to know about what's going on and really understand it. But yeah, it's not going to help everybody, but we don't want to be frightened all the time of everything. We don't need to be, you know, we need to support our kids. And it's not about, like you said, just social media, it's the world we live in. It's exploring everybody.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, you know that. For me, you hit the nail on the head when you were talking about human connection. And you know, this is what we are missing the most. And as I said, I've been doing this for 15 years. In the beginning, when I would go into schools or talk with parents, they were freaked out about screen time. They were freaked out a little bit later, it was about sexting, saying, Oh my gosh, what do I do? Then a little bit later, it was misinformation and fake news. I mean, there's always something, right? Inappropriate content right now. If you talk to parents, yes, they might say Roblox, they also might say AI, you know, AI chatbots and therapy. And, you know, I and I heard that my son has an AI girlfriend. What am I supposed to do? You know, these things, this is real. This is the world that we're living in. And, you know, shutting it all down is not going to help. We need to walk with them, we need to connect with them, we need those teachable moments. And for parents, you know, you need to get in there and understand those platforms. And I know, I know it seems like it's so much, which is why I'm always trying to work on making it simpler and easier. So just challenge me to even go easier, just there, find a way to like reach more parents.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I know I can I can hear it. I can hear the passion with everybody and what you do. So thank you so much for your time today. And I really want to share this a lot, as much as I can for my listeners, Instagram. This is this will be only the beginning now that I've met you a little bit. I really do because I work with so many um young families up to teens. So it the more that they can have a bit of peace and let their kids have some fun and and be and feel okay with that, how great's that? How good's that for parents, you know?

SPEAKER_01

That's what we all want, right? And I will make a promise, Donna, when all of these things changes start happening in the next few months, I'd be happy to come back and talk to parents of under nines only, and then talk to parents of over nine and to teens, because there's there's different things and different aspects to think about. I mean, and you can grow with Roblox. So there's different things to do.

SPEAKER_00

Part one. Part one. We want to be able to support the same. You're wanting for me, what I do is supporting parents the best I can, because everything I've been through and and and all my knowledge is like, how can I make their lives a little easier in this in this world?

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. I'm the same. And and and again, the experiences for a younger child, um, again, less is more about being being online in general and then realizing that there are educational games. We have something called a learning hub, which is completely different than the things that I would say for a single, you know, fun and fun and technique. It's gamified learning. But then with the 16-year-olds, it's my own boys, we play a game called Scary Schwama. Job scares. I mean, there are just like all kinds of like fun ingredients. Completely different, completely different experiences.

SPEAKER_00

It's fun. And we need to find fun and we need to. The thing is, the kids get older, it what I say to my families too, it is harder to connect as a parent because they're wanting their independence. So this this is fun stuff that you can connect with, have a bit of fun. Exactly. Exactly. Put it up on a big screen on a Friday night and just watch Roblox all together and play. Oh my gosh. Sounds like fun. I might try that with my kids. See if they'll see if they'll connect with me with that. They will. I know they will. Thank you so much, Dr. Elizabeth. Um, we'll speak to you soon.

SPEAKER_01

Me more so. You're you're inspiring me to go out there and keep doing it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00

I'm glad. I'm glad. I'm so excited. Take care. Thank you. Bye.

unknown

Bye.

SPEAKER_00

So if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to leave me a rating and review. I love reading all of your messages. So shoot me a DM over on Instagram. It is parentingcollective.au. I also offer a free 15 minute no obligation phone chat. If you'd like to book one, head over to my website, www.parentingcollective.com.au, and request one there. So try to remember to be kind to yourself and always know you're doing the best you can every day, no matter what your day is looking like. Until next time, much love.

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Donna Moala

Host