Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / Fighting the War Against Roblox

Transcript

Fighting the War Against Roblox · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We're going to have some problems in today's I'll do
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a bit at tomorrow. We're quibbling over whose story Today's
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I'll do it at tomorrow is, and it's mine. I
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: can tell you that right now. The other thing is
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: if I leave your microphone, if I get it, oh
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: that's unfair. Let me send it on.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Your stay with us.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: This is doctor Justin Coilson. I'm here with my wife
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and mum who our six kids. Had a really cool
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: experience the other day. We've gone for our bike ride
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: because you're now getting fit. And following the bike ride,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I went and had my swim down at the local pool,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: bashed out a couple of kays in the pool, and
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: on the way back, I thought, I'll stop and check
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the surf, because not that I have time to do everything,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: but I'm going to have a look at the surf.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: And it was really good, and I wanted to hang
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: around there for a while, but I had work to do.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: But I was standing there and somebody said, oh my goodness,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I can't believe who I'm standing. And I just love
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: it when people know who I am and want to
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: say hi, because we've made a difference in their lives
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: And it was Jess who listened to the podcast visiting
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the Sunshine Coast from Melbourne with her husband and they
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: had a great chat while we watched the surf and
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: it was just it's just beautiful. I love when people
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: say hi. Thanks for saying hi, Jess. All right, I'd
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: about it tomorrow. For those of you who knew to
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the pod, this is where we have a look at
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the week that was, talk about what worked and what
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: didn't and how it can be better parents. It's about
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: intentionality and mindfulness in our parentings so that we can
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know, raise happy, resilient kids. That's the goal.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: So I guess we're going to have to share this one.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I've got the piece of paper to prove it's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: my story.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the piece of paper was given to me that
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: you didn't read this, not that I didn't read it.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: It was about timing. It was timing. So here's the deal.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: On what day was it? Monday? I think it was Monday.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: You had to go down to Brisy. Our youngest two
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: you took them with you. One of them decided to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: stay Grandma's for a couple of days. But our ten
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: year old Emily got to hang out with one of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: her best he's in our old neighborhood. While she was there,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: they played roadblocks. I think did they play roadblocks? No,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: they talked about roadblocks. They talked about roadblocks and none stop.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And that night, I don't know you'd gone for a
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: walk with Abby, our second eldest, along the beach, and
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Emily came into the office right before I was about
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: to run a webinar, And right at the start of
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the webinar, just before we pressed go, she walked in
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: and said, Dad, I need to talk to you. Have
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: to talk to you. And I said, not a great time.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: She handed me a piece of paper. She just hates
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: holding the pencil of the pan, hates writing anything. Winges complains, winds, moans,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and we'll do anything to get out of writing. Except
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: that on Monday night she had me this list with
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: fourteen perfectly the best handwriting she's ever done, fourteen beautifully
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: written statements about why she should have roadblocks. And all
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: this week, I mean, we've had tantrums, she's run away
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: from the house. It's been the roadblocks, wars have begun.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That's my story, that's my older. But it's tomorrow.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: How are you going to be better?
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Actually, my very simple take home message is that I'm
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: still going to say no. Why because sometimes his parents
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: just got to say no. Because you're interested in protecting
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: your kids, keeping them safe. That's our job. And when
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: it comes to issues of kids being online, I'm sorry,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: but I know that I know that Emily's the only
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: kid on the planet who's not on roadblocks. I mean,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: she's given us the list of every single one of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: her friends who is on roadblocks, and it's a comprehensive list.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: And she's also promised us and assured us that she'll
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: only play in public. She'll play with sound off. She's
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: not going to friend anybody that she doesn't know. She's
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: aware of it.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: She watched parental guidance.
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  Speaker 1: She was pro she's aware of the risks, dangers and
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: concerns that we have. But as a parent, sometimes you
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: just say no. And she's ten and I said no,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: and so I'm the worst out in the world. She
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: knows that I still love her. We've had cuddles and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: we've had good talks, but I'm the worst out in
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  Speaker 1: the world, and my older better tomorrow is I'm okay
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: with that for now. I mean, it's really sad. Conversations
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: are ongoing, negotiations have not yet ceased, but I'm feeling
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: a little bit worn down by it, to be honest,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: because this is the thing when parents don't band together,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: when parents don't form community. See what I'm doing here,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: I'm blaming every parent that's listening to this podcast right now,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the let's their kids beyond roadblocks because I'm struggling with it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: I don't want her to be on there. It's just
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: it is literally, by design, a place where people with
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: ill intent, adults with ill intent can access and communicate
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: with a huge number of children at scale. That's what happens.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And is it likely that our child will be approached?
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I don't know, but I don't want to take that risk.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: To me, it's too big of a risk. Anyway, that's
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: my older bit tomorrow. I don't know if that was
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: a fun one or an inspiring one, or if I
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: just sound like a big grump kylie, what's your old
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: habit tomorrow?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Well, let me read you the list.
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: Never done one like this before, By the way, I'm
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: usually upbeat. I'm really inspired. I'm trying to help everyone
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: feel like, yeah, you can do this. Let's say the list.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Number one, I'll only play Brookhaven with Patrick and my
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: street friends Jessic, Sasha, Ali, Harper, and Olivia and some
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: other friends. There's a few in there there are. Number two.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Some games don't even give the talking ability. Number three.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell someone my whole life story
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  Speaker 2: so that they can kidnap me or say mean things.
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  Speaker 2: Number four. If they say inappropriate things, then I will
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: tell you, and I can contact roeblocks and they will
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  Speaker 2: be banned forever. Number five. I will ban everyone who
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  Speaker 2: I don't know from my house. Number six. No one
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  Speaker 2: has the same user names, so I will memory all
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: my friends usernames. Number seven. They have smooth and amazing graphics.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: I love this, smooth and amazing graphics.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: I've got to be allowed.
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  Speaker 2: Number eight. I can make my own characters looks and
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: save them, and I can make more. Number nine. There
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: are no inappropriate clothing options, and you can change your
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: face and have children and even pets. Number ten. I
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: won't spend your actual money on roadblocks. Number eleven it's
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: like living my dream future. And house twelve it'll be
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: perfect for long car drives. Thirteen. Anyone can watch me
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: play so nothing bad happens and fourteen everyone has it
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Well, I've got my own list. Are you ready for this?
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: This is something that I'm taking from Hindenburg Research. I've
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: talked about them on the podcast recently. Hindenburg Research is
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a stock market analyst company, and they basically point to
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: companies that are going to be in trouble soon, and
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: they're holding that Roadblocks will be that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: You've got ninety seconds.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: You're not hijack Hinderberg Research dot com slash Roadblocks Beyond
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: inflated key user metrics. Hindenburg's in game research revealed an
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: X rated pedophile healthscape, exposing children of grooming, pornography, violent content,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: extremely abusive speech. Number two, Roadblocks is compromising child safety
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: and order report growth to investigators per their interview with
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: a former senior product designer who said, and I quote,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: if you're limiting users engagement, it's hurting your metrics. In
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of cases, the leadership doesn't want that. Number three.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: Roadblocks reported a two percent year over year decline and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: its trust and safety expenses. Number four. Core of the
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: problem is that Roadblocks's social media features allow pedophiles to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: efficiently target hundreds of children with no upfront screening to
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: prevent them from joining the platform Number five. For example,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen, prior to Roadblocks going public, a twenty
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  Speaker 1: nine year old was caught by police with one hundred
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: and seventy five hours of video footage of Hymn grooming
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: and engaging in explicit behavior with one hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 1: miners using online platforms, namely Roadblocks. Number six, Media and
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: nonprofit expose as from twenty twenty three to July twenty
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: twenty four revealed digital strip club, red light districts, sex parties,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: and child predators lurking on Roadblocks. The National Center on
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Sexual Exploitation in twenty twenty four labeled roeblocks quote a
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: tool for sexual predators a threat for children's safety close
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: quote number seven. Numerous criminal indictments from twenty nineteen through
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: to twenty twenty four alleged that sexual predators groomed children
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: in game ranging from eight to fourteen year olds, then kidnapped, raped,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: or traded sexual content with them. Next one, Following years
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: of scandals, Hindenberg performed their own checks to see if
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the platform had cleaned up its act. As a test,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: they attempted to set up an account under the name
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein, only to see the name was taken along
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: with nine hundred plus variations Let's go again. Many were
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Jeffrey Epstein fan accounts, including jeff Epstein's Supporter, which had
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: earned multiple badges for spending time in kids games. Other
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: jeff Epstein accounts had the username I groom Miners and
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: I'm not even going to say the other one because
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: it's so offensive. It makes me want to weep. And
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I can just keep on going and going and going.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: We'll link to it. Hindenburg Research dot Com slash roadblocks.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: I'm getting passionate, passionate about it. You only gave me
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: ninety seconds, but I could keep on going. He listen
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: to this one. In the game Beat Up the Pregnant,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: users hated pregnant women to death in a Walmart parking
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: lot with machetes or killed them with frying pans or
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: a selection of guns. What about this one? We played
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: guns Work at Hospital, say the Hindenburg team, where users
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: can go on a hospital shooting rampage. The game has
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: more than one point six million visits and remains on
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: the platform with no age restrictions. The game's thumbnail is
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: a picture of a terrified pregnant woman. Parents have no
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: idea how bad this thing is, and that's why their
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: kids are on there.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I know that there's all sorts of restrictions, I know
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: there's all sorts of ways that you can keep your
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: kids safe, and I know that forty million plus kids
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: are on there every single day. I don't care. I'm
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: not letting my daughter on there.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for that comprehensive list.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: You're welcome. I'll do better tomorrow. Mate, How are you
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: going to be odd?
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: I don't even know where to go from.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Well, you wanted to talk about the list, and you
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the emotions, and you're right. I
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: have hijackted and I love hijacked it because I'm so
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: frustrated with the fact that this product is out there
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: and it is mass marketed to our kids, and parents
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: are blase and apathetic and say, no, it'll be fine.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: So the challenge is, it's easy to assume, based on
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: the fact that Emily has brought me this big, long
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: list of all the reasons why she should be able
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to play Roadbox, that this is about a video game,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: but it's actually not and that is the challenge as parents.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Our children give us stimulus on any given day, and
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: we either accept it for what it appears to be,
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: or we take the time to explore, explain, and empower
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: our kids as we recognize what the core root is.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: So I sat down with Emily after she had run
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: away from home for half an hour or so. She
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: came back and I said, we need to have a
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: little cuddle, and she came and lay on the bed
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: with me and we started to talk about her list,
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: but she got really really upset and didn't want to
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: and she turned her back to me, and I just said, Emily,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I said, is this really about roadblocks? Or is this
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: about the fact that you miss your friends? And she
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: pretty much burst into tears. There are so many awesome
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: things about homeschooling, and she recognizes it and loves it,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: but there are also some really big challenges. She doesn't
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: like being the new kid in the room. She doesn't
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: want to invest in meeting new friends if they're not
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: going to be lifelong friends. There's some really big challenges
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: for her around this, and so starting to infiltrate new
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: homeschool groups and things is a really, really big deal.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: For her, and so we haven't spent a lot of
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: time looking in that space. She's spent a lot of
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: time on her own and she's been really happy doing it.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: But as time has gone on, there is this a
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: deep hohole, this big gape in her life where she
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: wants her friends, but she's the only one who's not
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: at school, and it's really really hard to sit there
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: and navigate that space when there's so many other challenges
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: going on. So this started off about roadblocks, but it's
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: actually not about roadblocks. This is about a little girl
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: who is desperate for connection. And I think the power
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: comes when we can sit in those hard places with
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: our kids and have hard conversations and help them to
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: understand why they're so passionate about whatever it is that
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: they're talking about. She thought that this was about roadblocks,
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: but as we explored it together, there was a recognition
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: and that this is actually not really about roadblocks.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for the record, I just love everything that you've said,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and I also know it's not about roadblocks, but roadblocks
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: it's just such a big problem. I want to read
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: more stats to you. That's how fastrated I am. But
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: ultimately my older better tomorrow to come out of that
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: is the answer will be known for her because of
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: that and more, and because roadblocks won't solve the problem.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: One of the things she said to me, she said,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: I just want to be normal, And I said, what
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: does that mean? She said, well, I just want parents
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: who actually don't care what I watch and what I play.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: Because that's in her mind, that's what she's seeing. She
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: just thinks that her friends are allowed to do whatever
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: they want when they want, which is.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Not the case, no, of course not, but from her
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: that their parents don't care.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: No, But from her perspective, that's what she sees because
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: we're putting limitations on her that her other friends don't have.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: Just to be normal.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: I'll do better tomorrow understanding your kids. And by the way,
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: that conversation led to some of the best hugs, and
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: it was beautiful to lay on the bed and just
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: listen to her and have her pour her heart out
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to us. It was a highlight, a highlight of the week.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Roland from
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. I hope you have a great weekend. We'll
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: be back with you on Monday.