Most teens have a TikTok account, and now the app plans to interrupt late-night doomscrolling with a fullscreen reminder to take a deep breath, wind down, and prepare for bed. Recently, TikTok has placed a heavier emphasis on the safety and well-being of its younger user base by adding more parental controls.
Aside from the addition of the meditation feature, this update gives parents more control over the content their child can view on the app. Parents can re-enable the dedicated STEM feed if it has been disabled and set customizable daily screen time limits. By default, all TikTok users under 18 have a one-hour daily limit.
Another feature is that parents can switch an account back to private, even if their child made it public. The Time Away feature allows parents to block TikTok access during specific time frames, such as during school hours or dinner.
Parental controls like this, along with greater awareness of the effect of social media and short-form content on a teen’s mental health, can help stem the worsening of problems like depression and anxiety. Numerous studies have shown that TikTok can have a negative impact on mental health, while others show that the quick dopamine bursts gained from watching short-form videos can reduce attention spans.
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The wind down feature, as TikTok calls it, reminds teens to take a break. It launches a full-screen takeover that plays “calming music” and asks teens to perform a breathing exercise. If they continue to use the app after the first reminder, TikTok will display another that is harder to dismiss.
According to Dr. Vicki Harrison, a member of TikTok’s Content Advisory Counsel, “TikTok has responded to calls from both youth and their families for more tools that will help them support their wellbeing while using the app. Prioritizing sleep, balanced usage and more parent-teen interactions around social media use are all positive steps that I hope we see more of.”
TikTok doesn’t allow users under the age of 13 and automatically blocks nighttime push notifications to all users under the age of 16.
