TikTok just got a lot better for its mass target audience. Turns out the app has released a batch of new features that are targeted toward reducing screen time for its younger user base.
With the new feature in place, users will get a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes applicable for all users under 18 years. Users can extend their daily limits by up to 100 minutes a day after entering a required password at the end of the initial limit. In case they exceed the final limit, TikTok will ask teenagers to enter a new daily limit that they would adhere to.
In order to reduce screen time, TikTok will send email notifications about the daily limit they spend on TikTok every week. The short video service claims that using these prompts has allowed users to check out screen time management tools on TikTok by 234% during the first month of testing.
TikTok doesn’t endorse any time limit that it can call ‘too much’ as it is subjected. The aforementioned numbers were coined based on consultation from Boston Children’s Hospital’s Digital Wellness Lab in order to have a firm back regarding the features being rolled out actively.
TikTok for Younger Users which is basically a TikTok app for users under 13 years, will see a limit of 60 minutes. Here, their accounts will be connected with their parent’s or guardian’s account they can extend the time limit by 30 minutes or not.
Family Pairing on TikTok has received its share of updates as well. Parents will now get access to features like setting custom limits that they can adjust every day, week, or during an extended period such as holidays.
The ‘Mute Notifications’ feature has been added to Family Pairing as well which lets parents set schedules when the notifications from TikTok will be muted. It comes as an extension to the feature available already where the app mutes notifications at 9 PM for users aged 13 to 15 years while those at 16 to 17 years get their notifications muted by 10 PM every day.
Additionally, TikTok is working on a feature that reminds users to shut down the app and sleep. These prompts act as a natural stimulus provoking user’s affinity towards using apps for extended periods of time. As of now, there’s no information on when these features are rolling out on the app and neither TikTok provided any information as such at the time of writing this.
