TikTok Releases New Features To Reduce Screen Time And Improve Young User Welfare

TikTok announced a series of new features aimed at reducing screen time. (photo: Twitter @tiktok_us)

JAKARTA - TikTok announced a series of new features aimed at reducing screen time and improving the well-being of young users. In the coming weeks, the 60-minute daily screen time limit will be automatically applied to every TikTok user under the age of 18.

Teens who reach this limit will be required to enter a code to continue watching. They can disable this feature completely, but if they do and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok every day, and they will be asked to set new limits.

TikTok claims that the use of screen time management tools increased 234 percent during the first month of testing of this feature. Teenagers will also be sent an entry box notification every week that summarizes their screen time, which allows younger users to realize how much time they spend on the app and require an active decision to extend recommended screen time.

This change seems to be designed to make users more aware of their screen time. TikTok says it has consulted with current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital when deciding how long the time limit should be applied.

"While no collective position is approved on how much screen time is 'too much', or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we recognize that teens usually need extra support as they start exploring the online world independently," Cormac Keenan, TikTok's Head of Trust and Security, said in a statement., quoted by The Verge.

The 60-minute deadline will also be applied to children under the age of 13 who use the limited application experience "TikTok for Younger Users". In this case, a parent or guardian must determine or enter an existing code to enable an additional 30 minutes of viewing time on the account if the screen time limit has been reached.

Four new features are also added to Family Pairing, custom-adjustable parental controls from TikTok that allow parents or guardians to connect their TikTok accounts to younger user accounts. Custom limitation can be applied, allowing restrictions to be adjusted based on what day it is (or wider extended during school holidays).

Family Pairing also provides access to TikTok screen time dashboards that summarize how long a child spends in the app, how often it opens, and details that show how long it lasts during the day and night.

The new settings "Turn Off Notifications" will soon allow parents to set a schedule to turn off app notifications on their children's accounts. Push notifications have been automatically turned off starting at 21.00 p.m. for users between ages 13 and 15, while users aged 16-17 years have push notifications disabled from 22.00 p.m.

Finally, TikTok says it is developing new content controls that will allow caregivers to filter videos with words or hashtags that their children don't want to watch. The company is working with "the organization of the elderly, youth, and civil society" in the coming weeks to design the feature.

Outside of Family Pairing, TikTok says some of these settings will be widely available to all "immediate" accounts, allowing users to schedule to turn off notifications and set customized screen time limits for each day a week. Sleep advisors are also introduced that allow users to set times to be reminded to close the app and go to sleep.

TikTok did not say exactly when the new features announced today will be rolled out to users.