O TikTok today announced new features to promote greater control of social network use (mainly) by teenagers. The main one consists of a time limit for use: from now on, the accounts of those under 18 will have a limit of 60 minutes set by default.
According to the company, the one-hour limit was considered adequate following consultations with doctors and researchers in the field. When you reach the time, you will need to enter a password to continue using TikTok. For users under the age of 13, those responsible will need to enter the password in order to free up another 30 minutes of use.
A notice will be shown encouraging young people who spend more than 100 minutes on the app per day to activate the feature if they have deactivated it. According to tests by the Chinese network, these reminders increased the use of screen time control tools by 234%. A notification will also be sent regarding the time spent on the network on a weekly basis.
Additionally, new features have been added to Family Sync. Parents will be able to set time limits, see how much time young people spend using TikTok, and mute notifications. It is worth remembering that they are already silenced from 9 pm (up to 15 years old) and 10 pm (16 and 17 years old).
The company also said it is engaging in a variety of partnerships with creators, experts, and others to improve features like Family Sync. Educational videos are also being made to better inform people regarding these features, increasing dialogue with users.
Finally, it was announced that everyone will soon be able to set usage time limits for days of the week, as well as silence notifications. Another feature being released is a sleep reminder that appears when the set time limit is reached.
These resources are certainly a consequence of pressures that TikTok has suffered in relation to the indiscriminate use of the network by children and young people. The US Congress asked executives from companies — including the Chinese chain — regarding the negative impact their services might have on young people.
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