TikTok introduces new features to promote digital well-being for teen users

TikTok, the popular video-sharing app, has announced new features aimed at promoting digital well-being for its teen users. With a 60-minute daily screen time limit for every account belonging to users under the age of 18, the company aims to encourage responsible usage of the app.

If the time limit is reached, teen users will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching, requiring an active decision to extend that time. TikTok consulted with Boston Children’s Hospital – Digital Wellness Lab to implement this limit.

For those under 13, 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.

To further support digital well-being, TikTok will prompt teens to set a daily screen time limit if they opt out of the 60-minute default and spend more than 100 minutes on the app in a day.

In addition, TikTok is introducing three new features to Family Pairing, aimed at helping parents and caregivers support their teens in achieving digital well-being.

Parents and guardians will be able to customize the daily screen time limit for their teen using Family Pairing, including choosing different time limits depending on the day of the week. TikTok is also bringing its screen time dashboard to Family Pairing, providing summaries of time spent on the app during the day and night.

Furthermore, a new setting lets parents set a schedule to mute notifications for their teens.

Everyone will soon be able to set their own customized screen time limits for each day of the week and set a schedule to mute notifications. TikTok will also introduce a sleep reminder to help users plan when they want to be offline at night.

TikTok's new features are designed to help families establish an ongoing dialogue about safety and well-being in the digital world. While these changes will go live in the coming weeks, they only apply to the TikTok app and not its browser versions.

In conclusion, TikTok's efforts to promote digital well-being are a step in the right direction, particularly for its young users. These new features will encourage responsible usage of the app and provide parents with more tools to help their children navigate the digital world safely.