ICYMI: TikTok to set one-hour daily screen limit for users below 18 y/o

TikTok has announced a new feature that will help teens manage their time while using the platform.

Set a screen time limit for teens on TikTok

One-hour limit for teens on TikTok

In a post, the social media platform said the new feature to be rolled out in the coming weeks will automatically set a 60-minute daily screen time limit for teens on the platform.

If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode in order to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time, said Cormac Keenan, head of Trust and Safety at TikTok.

For people in our under 13 experience, the daily screen time limit will also be set to 60 minutes, and a parent or guardian will need to set or enter an existing passcode to enable 30 minutes of additional watch time, Keenan added.

Keenan said the time limit was determined following consultations with the academic research team and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.

For those who will opt out of the 60-minute limit and would want to use the platform for a longer time, Keenan said TikTok is encouraging them to set the screen time limit for themselves.

This builds on a prompt we rolled out last year to encourage teens to enable screen time management; our tests found this helped increase the use of our screen time tools by 234%, he said.

In addition, we'll send every teen account a weekly inbox notification with a recap of their screen time, he added.

Aside from this, TikTok also announced other new features on the Family Pairing feature. This includes allowing caregivers to customize daily screen time for teens, and parents setting customized time to mute notifications.

Soon, TikTok said everyone will also be able to set customized screen time limits for each day of the week, set a schedule to mute notifications, and set a sleep reminder.

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