TikTok will now limit screen time for users under the age of 18. On Wednesday, the social media platform announced the impending change which they said is being put in place to help teens manage the amount of time spent on the app. Soon, every account registered to anyone under the age of 18 will be set to a 60-minute daily screen limit. The new limit is supposed to take effect in the next few weeks.
Teen users will be able to extend their time beyond 60 minutes, but only after entering a passcode. This will require them to make an “active decision” to extend their time on the app.
“We believe digital experiences should bring joy and play a positive role in how people express themselves, discover ideas, and connect. We’re improving our screen time tool with more custom options, introducing new default settings for teen accounts, and expanding Family Pairing with more parental controls,” said the announcement from Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety, TikTok.
The company said they consulted the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital in choosing this limit. The change comes as there is growing concern about an increase in teen depression and suicide — experts say the extended use of social media apps is partly to blame.
TikTok will also roll out other new features including sending teens a weekly screen time recap and a screen time dashboard that family members can see, broken down by hours spent on the app during the day and at night. New settings will allow parents to enable mute notifications for their teens so that they do not receive push notifications late at night. (Kids 13-15 already do not receive notifications after 9 pm).
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