TikTok announced on Wednesday (1) that it will launch new features aimed at children, adolescents and groups of families. One of the novelties is the limitation of 60 minutes daily for profiles of users under the age of 18. If this time is exceeded, the account will be prevented from checking more videos unless a password is entered to continue. The tool will give the faces in the coming weeks.
The news follows a consultation made by the Chinese company to the Digital Wellness Lab, an institution of the Children’s Hospital of Boston. As a result, TikTok decided to set the time to one hour a day for teen and child users as the default.
The feature will be activated automatically and will require a password from a responsible adult to allow longer use of the app for those between 14 and 18 years old. For individuals under the age of 13, the keyword will only release 30 more minutes of fun in the videos on the platform per day.
It is worth noting that this tool has been available since 2022 in some countries.
On the other hand, it is common for younger people to end up circumventing this type of system to keep the videos rolling. Therefore, older people will need to pay close attention to what is happening in their homes.
Parental control will also receive news
With the intention of promoting more tools for parents and guardians, TikTok announced a new wave of options focused on parental control on its platform.
The first is the Customizable Screen Time Daily Limit, which will allow the adult to decide how many minutes per day the teen or child can use the app. You can set, for example, more time during weekends.
The Control Panel Screen will provide a detailed page on the use of the app. Information such as the number of times the person opened TikTok and how many daily minutes kept it in use will be widely presented to the person responsible.
Finally, adults can use the Mute Notifications feature and set specific times for them to appear for the kid. It is important to remember that users between the ages of 13 and 15 no longer receive reminders from 9pm.
The good news is that, according to the Chinese company’s announcement, it will release the option to control screen time and the silencing of notifications for everyone, as it will become clearer to see if we are crossing the line.
Going offline will be easier
In addition, the brand stated that it is “releasing a sleep reminder to help people plan more easily when they want to go offline at night. They can set a time, and when it’s hit, a pop-up reminds them that it’s time to log off.”
That is, the platform wants to give a hand to help the guys disconnect from TikTok from time to time. In this way, ensuring a quieter night for your user base.