No more than 60 minutes for users under 18 years old. New TikTok version comes with many time management features.
Introduction
Screen time is a serious issue for all users, and that’s why TikTok is bringing Sleep reminders to everyone. Users can now set a time at which a pop-up will remind them to log off.
The social video sharing platform TikTok announced new features for teens and families. One of these features include a 60-minute daily viewing limit for all users under the age of 18. The users can still opt-out of this pre-defined limit and set their own limit.
Features
TikTok announced a number of changes for all users. These features includes the ability to set customized screen time limits for each day of the week. Also allowing users to set a schedule to mute notifications. The company is also launching a sleep reminder to help people plan when they want to be offline at night. For the sleep feature, users will be able to set a time and when the time arrives, a pop-up will remind the user that it’s time to log off. The users will also have access to the screen time dashboard. Which will provide details on time on the app, the number of times the app was open, and a breakdown of the total time spent.
The app will include other screen time management features, such as a reminder for users to let them know they spent more than 100 minutes on the app.
Parents will be able to control the time usage of their kids, by adding their own passcodes, and will be able to extend the time limit to 30 minutes at a time.
Cormac Keenan, TikTok’s head of Trust and safety, said in a blog post that when the 60-minute limit is reached, app will ask minors to enter a passcode. Doing so, they will need to make an “active decision” to keep watching.
For users is under the age of 13, a parent or guardian will have to set or enter an existing passcode to allow 30 minutes of extra viewing time, once the initial 60-minute limit is reached.
Research
The video sharing app said it came up with the 60-minute threshold by consulting academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital. The team consulted the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital to select the 60-minute limit.
Parents will also be able to set more limits and mute notifications for their teens. Currently, users under 15 do not receive push notifications after 9 PM. Users aged 16-17 have them disabled after 10 PM.
In the U.S., families struggle with limiting the amount of time their children spend on the Chinese-owned video sharing app. According to the Pew Research Center, about two-third of Americans teens use TikTok.
TikTok App Ban
The changes arrive during a period in which there are growing concerns among different governments about the app’s security and ability to alter its algorithm to push certain posts.
The European Parliament, the European Commission and the EU Council have banned TikTok from being installed on official devices. That follows similar actions taken by the U.S. federal government, Congress and more than half of the 50 U.S. states.
Canada has also banned it from government devices.
House republicans in USA are pushing a bill that will give President Joe Biden the ability to ban the app nationwide.
Conclusion
Tiktok coming up with time management features is a good thing for all users. Especially the need to enter the passcode to make an active decision to continue watching more videos.
Instead of mindlessly scrolling videos, that have no benefit for the users. Occasional scrolling is not bad, but once it becomes your habit, it takes more efforts to not watch more videos.
IMO, 30-mintues a day of watching Tiktok is more than enough for users to relax, but it shouldn’t be more than that. They should use their free time to learn some skills or do some exercise, which will go a long way.