Starting in the next few weeks, TikTok user accounts under the age of 18 will be able to count on an automatically defined limit of 60 minutes of daily use
In the coming weeks, each TikTok account belonging to a user under the age of 18 will automatically be set a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes.
Company officials explain that the decision on the time limit allowed for teenagers took into account recent academic research and information from experts at the Digital Wellness Lab, at Children’s Hospital in Boston (USA).
“While there is no consensus on how much time is considered ‘too much’, or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognize that teens tend to need some extra support as they begin to explore the online world independently. ”, comments the company.
In this case, if the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be asked to enter an access code in order to continue watching Tik Tok, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time.
“Studies also show that being more aware of how we spend our time can help us to be more intentional in the decisions we make. With this tool, we are also encouraging teenagers to set a daily time limit in front of the screen, if they intend to turn off after the predefined 60 minutes are over or spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a single day”, says TikTok which adds that, every week it will also send a summary notification of the time spent in front of the screen to each teen account.
“Studies also show that being more aware of how we spend our time can help us to be more intentional in the decisions we make. With this tool, we are also encouraging teenagers to set a daily time limit in front of the screen, if they intend to disconnect after the predefined 60 minutes have ended or spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a single day”, says TikTok which adds that , every week it will also send a summary notification of the time spent in front of the screen to each teen account.
The company also mentions having added three new features to Family Monitoring:
Personalized daily screen time limits: Parents can use Family Tracking to customize the daily screen time limit for teens – including choosing different time limits depending on the day of the week – thus giving families more options to combine screen time with school schedules, vacation breaks, or family trips.
Screen Time Dashboard: In Family Tracking it is now possible to access the screen time dashboard, which provides summaries of app usage time, the number of times TikTok has been opened, and a breakdown of the total time spent during the day and night.
Silent notifications: The company is introducing a new tool that allows parents to set a time to silence notifications for teens. User accounts aged between 13 and 15 do not receive push notifications after 9:00 pm. Creators between the ages of 16 and 17 have push notifications turned off after 10:00 pm.
TikTok says it’s still working on a sleep reminder to help people more easily plan when they want to be offline at night. Users can set a time, and when that time is reached, a pop-up will remind them that it’s time to hang up