The silence of children in the digital age: each in his own conversation. Today, children no longer get lost in the park. They get lost online. PHOTO: Shutterstock
Discord is an online platform that children and teenagers use to talk to various people, known or unknown, while playing various games together or sharing common hobbies and interests. It works differently than classic social networks – Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat or BeReal. On these, you can't send or receive messages if you don't have these apps installed and an account. Discord, however, requires no installed app, no public profile, and most players are anonymous. A child can only enter there by accessing a link received from a friend, from a video game or from YouTube. Within seconds, he can already be in a group chat with dozens of strangers. Online safety experts consider Discord one of the most difficult digital platforms to monitor. It looks like a gaming app, but in reality it's a chat room system, with no fences and no guards.
Discord is a text, voice, and video communication platform launched in 2015 for online gamer communities. Today, the platform has surpassed 200 million monthly active users, according to a 2024 report published by Skillademia, and a large portion of users are pre-teens and teens.
children can reach Discord chatrooms. PHOTO: Shutterstock
Discord is not like Instagram or TikTok. It has no public profiles, followers, likes or algorithms to push content. It is rather a system of chat rooms, called SERVERScreated around themes: games, movies, hobbies, fandoms (i.e. groups of fans who discuss the same passion, such as a series, actor or band) or learning communities. Some servers are private, accessible by invitation only, and others are public, where anyone can join from a link.
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