TikTok is continuing to expand new features for families and teens as part of the Family Pairing control. With the help of new updates, the platform is helping teenagers to manage their screen time. The addition to parental controls is part of TikTok’s efforts for a positive digital experience. The new customized options will also help users to express themselves in a constructive manner, along with connecting with each other and discovering new ideas.
TikTok with the aim of enhancing user experience is encouraging them to control their screen time. By following the research of Digital Wellness Lab, TikTok will now automatically set the screen time limit of users below 18 years to 60 minutes daily. If anyone wished to use the application for over 60 minutes, they would require a passcode to proceed further, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time.
As part of empowering families and assuring user safety, TikTok has rolled out three new features in the Family Pairing:
• Custom daily screen time limits: Parents and caregivers can customize the daily screen time limit for teenagers. For each day, a different time limit can be set. Families will be able to set the timings by following the school schedules, family travel, and holidays.
• Screen time dashboard: The dashboard will show summaries of time spent on TikTok and how many times the app was opened. Parents will also find a breakdown of the total time spent during the day and night.
• Mute notifications: With the help of this option, parents can decide to mute notifications for their teen by setting up a schedule. Under the new update, users aged 13-15 will not be sent notifications from 9:00 pm onwards. Similarly, the push notifications are disabled from 10:00 pm onwards for accounts whose users are aged 16-17.
TikTok is also rolling out a sleep reminder through which users can do better planning on going offline at night time. A pop-up will appear at the set time to remind users to log off from the application. For educating parents and children about the new features, TikTok has partnered with creative content creators and experts from the industry. The in-app support also plays a vital role in teaching users about the Family Pairing option and newly introduced features.
Over the past months, TikTok has released a series of features and updates to ensure a safer user experience and enable parents to educate their teens about the progressive use of the digital ecosystem. By prioritizing the best interest of families, TikTok has enhanced its parental controls, created more transparency in policies, strengthened the Safety Center and also created valuable partnerships with multiple safety organizations.
