TikTok has announced it will set a 60-minute daily screen time limit for users aged under 18.
But teenagers will be able to opt out of the new default setting, which TikTok said will be rolled out “in the coming weeks”.
“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,” Cormac Keenan, TikTok’s head of trust and safety, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
For accounts whose user 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.
The changes come as governments around the world are growing concerned about the app’s security and ability to alter its algorithm to push certain posts and make the content highly addictive to young users.
TikTok 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.
It said the research showed that being more aware of how we spend our time can help us be more intentional about the decisions we make.
Screen time recaps and a ‘sleep reminder’
If teens opt out of the 60-minute default limit and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a day, the platform will prompt them to set a daily screen time limit.
Every teen account will also receive a weekly inbox notification with a recap of their screen time.
“We want our community to feel in control of their TikTok experience,” Keenan said.
Some of TikTok’s existing safety features for teen accounts include having accounts set to private by default for those between the ages of 13 and 15 and providing direct messaging availability only to those accounts where the user is 16 or older.
TikTok said all users will soon be able to set their own customised screen time limits for each day of the week and set a schedule to mute notifications.
The company is also introducing a “sleep reminder” to help people plan when they want to be offline at night. When that set time is reached, a pop-up will prompt them to log off.
(Source Euronews)
