If Chris Hansen Is Back, You Know It’s Bad: Roblox and Our Kids

If you’re Gen X like me, you know what it meant to fend for yourself — latchkey kids with bikes, streetlights, and mac and cheese. But our kids’ playground isn’t the cul-de-sac anymore. It’s Roblox. And if Chris Hansen is climbing out of retirement to investigate it? That should set off alarm bells. This isn’t nostalgia. It’s urgent.

If you don’t have the time (or stomach) for 1,400 words of Aunt Lorri fire, scroll down to the TL;DR at the end. But trust me — the details in between might change how you see your kids’ screen time forever.

Chris Hansen might not carry the official Gen X card — he’s technically a shade older — but he’s close enough to feel like one of us. He remembers the world before social media, before predators were hiding behind avatars, and he knows what it means to shine daylight into the shadows.

Hansen became infamous in the 2000s with To Catch a Predator, confronting men who thought they were meeting minors they groomed online. His sharp “Why don’t you take a seat?” became a cultural reset button for internet safety. After controversies (financial trouble and a questionable ambush of a DA at his home), Hansen faded from view. But now he’s out of retirement — and his cameras are pointed at Roblox.

Why? Because the platform has been accused of harboring predators. A YouTuber named Schlep, who was once groomed on Roblox himself, began exposing them — leading to real arrests. Instead of thanking him, Roblox banned him. That decision raised alarms — and caught Hansen’s attention. When Chris Hansen shows up, it’s not for nostalgia. It’s because the danger is real.

And here’s the bigger pattern: whistleblowers rarely make friends in high places. Whether it’s Big Pharma covering trial data, the hidden names on Epstein’s list, or a gaming giant like Roblox — the people who profit from shadows don’t appreciate daylight. But daylight is where discernment and leadership live.

Now, if your kid were at my table — or better yet, in my car, because we all know that’s where the real conversations happen — here’s what I’d say. Let’s pick a safe person together. Somebody you trust who isn’t me — a coach, teacher, aunt, grandma. If you ever feel like you can’t tell me something, I’d rather you tell them than hold it in. Let’s come up with a safe word. A silly word you can text me, call me with, or even slip into a sentence that means, “I need help, no questions asked.” If something feels off, listen to that nudge inside. That’s your discernment. It’s worth paying attention to. You don’t owe anyone an instant reply. Online or in person. It’s always okay to pause. When you do come to me, no matter how big or small, I’m going to thank you for telling me. Because talking beats hiding, every single time. And yes — even if your school takes phones away, you still need to know who your safe adults are if something goes sideways. We’ll make a plan together.

Feed them. Drive them. Listen more than you talk. That’s the recipe.

And let’s be honest: in the 80s and 90s, we lied to our parents. We lied to our teachers. We said we were at the library when we were at the mall. We stretched curfews, got into cars we shouldn’t have, and half of us wouldn’t have jobs today if social media had been around back then. Thank goodness there wasn’t a permanent record of our teenage brains online.

And kids today don’t even believe it when we tell them. They can’t imagine that cops had to remind parents on the evening news, “It’s 9 p.m., do you know where your children are?” We were out with friends, no phones, no GPS trackers, no digital leash. Today, our kids have Life360 and a location pin at all times. That’s the irony: our parents didn’t always know where we were. Today, we know exactly where our kids are — but we don’t always know who has access to them.

And here’s the kicker — let me blow your mind with some numbers. Roblox has more than 85 million people logging in every single day. That’s basically the population of Germany. Almost half of American kids under 16 play it regularly. And here’s the siren moment: twenty percent of Roblox users are under nine years old. UNDER NINE. Let that sink in. Second graders. Kids who still need booster seats and bedtime stories are out here navigating a digital world with strangers, predators, and billion-dollar companies watching every click.

Teen boys? They average about 21 hours a week on the platform. That’s not a hobby — that’s a part-time job. Teen girls log about 15 hours a week. And in some homes, parents are spending 6–10 hours inside Roblox with their kids. Roblox isn’t a side gig. It’s the main event.

And while we’re asking questions, who actually owns Roblox? It isn’t one person anymore — it’s a public company. Shares are spread across big institutions like Vanguard and BlackRock, smaller investors, and even regular folks with a trading app. But the steering wheel still belongs to David Baszucki, the co-founder and CEO. He owns a smaller slice of the shares but has special voting rights that give him real control over decisions. And here’s a Gen X-adjacent fun fact: he was born in Canada, grew up in Minnesota, studied at Stanford, and ended up creating the online playground our kids can’t stop building in.

And here’s the bigger picture: Roblox isn’t just a playground. It’s a data goldmine. Big institutions like BlackRock own about 4–5% of Roblox. Why would a financial giant care about kids’ avatars? Because Roblox isn’t really about games — it’s about attention, habits, and future consumers.

Think about it. Eighty-five million people log in daily. Half of all American kids under 16 are on Roblox. One in five users is under nine. That’s not just entertainment — that’s a pipeline of behavioral data: what kids click on, what they buy, how long they stay. For Wall Street, that’s the mall food court, the arcade, and the allowance jar of the future, all rolled into one.

BlackRock doesn’t see Roblox as babysitting. They see it as babysitting their portfolio. Every Robux spent is a microtransaction. Every hour logged is advertising potential. Every habit formed is future consumer behavior. This isn’t about pixels. It’s about profit — and it should make us pay even closer attention to who has access to our kids.

But here’s the thing: our kids don’t get the grace we had. Every bad choice, every silly mistake, every questionable photo is screenshot and searchable. They don’t get the “forget about it” option we did. Which means we can’t just tell them “be careful” — we have to coach them on discernment, on what lasts, on the kind of digital footprint that follows them forever.

Here’s the advantage we have that our parents didn’t: tools like ChatGPT. The internet may be risky, but AI can help us manage the mess. Want to explain to your child why Roblox is off-limits? Ask ChatGPT to write it in kid language. Looking for safe alternatives? Prompt: “List games like Roblox but safer for 8–10 year olds.” Need tech rules that won’t cause a meltdown? Prompt: “Write three family tech agreements that sound fair and fun.” We may not get to hand our kids the wide-open independence we had, but we can give them clarity, safety, confidence, and discernment in this digital age.

This isn’t just about Roblox. It’s about leadership. Are we building systems — in our homes, in our companies, in our communities — that prioritize safety over speed and growth? Roblox is facing lawsuits, public backlash, and now Chris Hansen on its doorstep. That should make every parent stop and think. Nostalgia doesn’t protect kids. Intentional leadership does.

Gen X parents grew up independent. Our kids can’t. The online world is different. Chris Hansen is investigating Roblox after whistleblowers were silenced. Safer alternatives exist. Parents can use AI tools like ChatGPT to explain safety, find alternatives, and set boundaries. But more than anything, our kids need us to help them build a discerning spirit — and to know that no matter what, they can always come sit at our table and talk it through.

💡 TL;DR (for the skimmers)

Chris Hansen is back — and he’s investigating Roblox, a platform with 85 million daily users.
Half of American kids under 16 play Roblox. One in five users is under nine. UNDER NINE.
Teen boys spend 21 hours/week on Roblox. Teen girls about 15 hours/week. Some parents play alongside them.
Ownership matters: Roblox is a public company. Institutions like BlackRock hold ~5%, but co-founder David Baszucki controls the votes. Translation: Wall Street sees Roblox not as a game, but as a data funnel and future economy.
Why it matters: Our parents didn’t always know where we were. Today, we know exactly where our kids are (Life360, location pins) — but not who has access to them.
What to do: Talk about safe words, trusted adults, discernment. Use AI (like ChatGPT) to explain online safety in kid-friendly language, draft family tech agreements, or find safer game alternatives.
Bottom line: Nostalgia won’t protect kids. Intentional leadership will. And if your kids ever doubt it — send them to my table. I’ll feed them, listen, and remind them they can always come to us first.