The popular social media platform TikTok has introduced new tools to assist adolescents and their families in regulating their digital media use. For users under the age of 18, the new features include a daily screen time limit of 60 minutes, with the option to disable this restriction and enter one’s own limitations.
Other management tools, such as notifications to users who have disabled the 60-minute timer but have used the app for more than 100 minutes, will be added to the app to assist users in keeping track of their screen usage. Parents will set the screen time restriction and can add a passcode to increase it by 30 minute intervals if needed.
By the use of the Family Pairing function, parents or guardians may establish individual screen time limitations for each day of the week. And they can check out the screen time dashboard to see how much time was spent in the app, how often it was opened, and how that time was distributed among sessions.
Parents will be able to impose stricter rules and silence notifications for their adolescents. As of right now, users under the age of 15 do not receive push notifications after 9 PM, while those between the ages of 16 and 17 have them deactivated after 10 PM. TikTok has introduced Sleep reminders for all users in response to the rising concern over excessive screen time. Whenever the user specifies, a pop-up message will alert them to log out, close their browser, and turn off their device. These updates demonstrate TikTok’s concern for its users, especially its younger ones. TikTok’s attempts to educate its users about the need of setting reasonable screen usage limits are admirable.
Parents and other adults in charge of children’s well-being should take an active role in supervising their digital activities to make sure their charges use technology safely and responsibly. TikTok’s updates are a positive step in the right direction, but they shouldn’t be utilized in isolation from honest dialogue and debate about responsible tech usage.
Overall, it’s great that TikTok has added tools to help parents and guardians control their kids’ screen usage. TikTok is fostering responsible technology usage and bolstering its users’ well-being by giving them greater power over their screen time and providing Sleep reminders. But, it is still the responsibility of parents and other caregivers to keep an eye on their children’s screen usage, and these new capabilities may be used as a tool to help them establish good routines.
