If you find an app called Discord on your kid’s phone, you might be concerned. “Discord? What’s Discord? I don’t want discord in my child’s life!” It may not be the best name choice for discerning parents. So, what is Discord, and should you be concerned?

I have reviewed Discord twice before. Over time my recommendation for this app has evolved. This year, I have received more calls from parents whose children have been sexually exploited by predators on Discord than at any other time. Additionally, I speak to hundreds of school administrators throughout the year. When I ask school principals how things are going with their students and social media, the number one app causing the most disruption in their school is Discord.

What is Discord:

Discord is a free voice, video, and text chat app for teens and adults ages 13 and up. If your kid is a gamer, they are likely to have this app. It is intended for teens to chat about their games and create a talk group when they are playing a coop game. Teens can access Discord via their PC, browser, or mobile phone. Once there, they can join a chat they’ve been invited to, create private servers and invite their friends to play and discuss games by voice, text, or video. They can also message each other individually or in group chats with ten other friends.

Discord has its vocabulary. You might hear your teen or students using these words when discussing Discord.

Server: Servers are the spaces on Discord. They are made by specific communities and friend groups. The vast majority of servers are small and invitation-only. Some larger servers are public. Any user can start a new server for free and invite their friends to it.

Channel: Discord servers are organized into text and voice channels, which are usually dedicated to specific topics and can have different rules.

• In-text channels, users ...