New features for
teens and families on TikTok

BY: Patrick Beech

In an effort to reduce screen time for those under the age of 18, TikTok recently said it would introduce an automatic daily screen limit time.

Once the 60-minute limit is reached, teenagers will be prompted to enter a passcode if they wish to continue scrolling.

According to reports, TikTok said this feature would add to their robust existing safety settings for teen accounts.

TikTok will also send every teen account holder a weekly recap of their screen time to encourage them to be more conscious of their time.

While teenagers will be able to opt out of the new default screen time setting, the company said it will still prompt them to set a limit if they spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok a day.

"While there's no collectively-endorsed position on the right amount of screen time or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we consulted current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital in choosing this limit," it added.

TikTok also introduced the 'Family Pairing' function which allows a parent or caregiver to link their TikTok account to their teen's and set controls.

Parents will be able to filter videos with words or hashtags they don't want to appear in their teen's feed, set a custom daily screen time limit for their teen, and mute notifications sent to their teen.