As young as four years old, children are exposed to nightmares that can set them up for lifelong anxiety.
While animated online games like Rainbow Friends and videos of people playing them may seem innocent, their benign names can hide a more sinister message.
Rainbow Friends, a Roblox horror game, transforms an environment that appears to be welcoming into a terrifying nightmare.
The content is similar to that of Piggy, Five Nights at Freddy’s Poppy Playtime or Huggy Wuggy.
The gamer poses a child, who is not named, that has been abducted during a trip to Odd World amusement park.
Rainbow Friends Animations videos on Youtube received up to four million views, while the game itself (which is available on Xbox, mobile and PC devices) has been visited by more than one billion people.
Despite the PG rating for mild violence – its creators claim that it is suitable for children older than nine years old – children much younger are exposed.
There is no research to support this claim, but anecdotal reports from child educators suggest that children who access such content may act out more, even violently or show anxiety.
A kindergarten teacher who declined to name herself to protect the identities of her students said that several boys from a four-year-old class in Melbourne’s Eastern suburbs saw Rainbow Friends last year.
“My colleagues were watching them and we were talking about characters.” We’d never heard of this before and did some research. We were shocked that they knew so well about it,” said AAP.
It was reported that the main concern was four and five year olds being exposed to inappropriate content. However, it was noted that older siblings often made it easier for them to access.
Deirdre brandner, a child psychologist, said that stories of children as old as four years accessing similar material were concerning. Their developmental age means the line between pretend and real can be blurred.
The AAP reported that “it starts out with something that’s quite benign and engaging, and the change from there to the darkness is actually what is most distressing for the children.”
The character turns out to be different from what they expected.
She said these characters cause children to lose confidence and bring a cautiousness in everything they do.
She said that this could be a Disney or Bluey show.
Ms Bradner stated that “that’s when we start to see an increase in anxiety. And, you know, anxiety is directly related to what the children are exposed too. It’s also a very, vulnerable situation for these children.”
Talk to your kids and other parents to find out what they’re watching, or what friends of theirs are watching.
Susan McLean is a cybersafety specialist who believes that parents must take responsibility for what their kids are exposed to on the internet.
She said: “If we followed the same rules in parenting, we would not be able to let our three-year old wander aimlessly through the streets. We’d have to hope for the worst.”
Why do parents believe that the Internet is different? It’s not. “It is much more dangerous for children than the real world.”
She said children unsupervised using devices are often exposed to content not intended for their eyes.
When searching for videos from the G-rated Shrek film, you will find Shrek the Rapist.
In the playground, it is important to talk with other parents and have tough discussions about what they are showing their children. What one parent finds appropriate may not be appropriate for another.
Roblox is user-generated platform. This means that games and other virtual experiences are created not by Roblox, but by an online community of over 12 million creators.
Roblox said in a press release that it encourages parents to decide what experiences are appropriate for their child by offering a suite Parental Control features.
You can use these controls to limit the games and experiences that kids have access to, who they interact with and what they spend.
Parents can restrict access to Roblox based on age recommendations. There are three categories: “All Ages”, “9+” or “13 +”,””.
The Rainbow Friends game is only playable by those accounts with an age restriction of “All Ages”, “9+”, or “All Ages”.
