Discord

Reviewed By: Ryan

I hear a lot about Discord from students when it comes to communicating with others. Often this relates to chatting with someone while playing video games. However, that's not it’s only function. In 2020, Discord was rebranded with the tagline, “Your place to talk,” and 70% of users are using the platform for non-gaming purposes. I am not professing to know much about Discord, but I wanted to provide  resources if you are thinking about letting your child use it.

This article tells you a lot about the various functions of Discord related to gaming and outside of gaming. From the article: “A Discord server can be anything you want it to be — from a virtual classroom to a place to swap art and music ideas — and getting started on the platform is a breeze.” I would read this first as it helps you understand Discord overall.

There is a concern about predators using Discord. In an article by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, they describe how Discord can and has been used to groom youth. They cite numerous examples of youth being taken advantage of through this platform, such as sexual exploitation, abuse, and sharing nonconsensual pornography. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation also named Discord among their “Dirty dozen 2021:” a list of platforms failing to address sexual abuse online. You may be surprised by some of the others that made the list.

If you decide Discord is appropriate for your family, you should also be aware of the parental controls and how to set them. Here is an article that will walk you through that.

Finally, make sure to click on the Youth Thoughts tab to read what recent high school graduate John Kashmerr says about the platform from a youth perspective.

With any piece of technology, you should have a Technology Contract in place before they use it.

I would not recommend Discord for anyone under 18 years old.

Reviewed by John Kashmerr

Discord is an app/program that is geared towards gamers and content creators.  In essence, if used the proper way, you don’t really come across many bad/suggestive themes, but the possibility is there. It allows people to send messages/images/videos to each other or in groups. The main purpose is to utilize the voice channels where you go into talk channels to talk to people like on a phone call. The problem with Discord is the discords are not monitored from my experience. That being said, if you join the wrong discord server at the wrong time, people can send inappropriate messages. 

For the messages to be deleted, a moderator in whatever server you are in must delete them. I would say you should be 18 years old to use Discord unless monitored by a parent. Like stated before, if you use Discord as it’s intended, you can avoid almost all the bad stuff.  

About John Kashmerr

John graduated from Montour High School in 2021. He created the Montour eSports team, a competitive video games club. He is also involved in Future Business Leaders of America and the Spartan Startups Club. He is going to Duquesne or Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to study Computer Science.