TikTok Will Limit Screen Time If You're Under Age & Here's How To Change The Settings
How does 1 hour a day sound?
Teens on TikTok.
TikTok has announced plans to start limiting screen time for users under 18, and that's going to get annoying fast if you're a teenager who spends a lot of time on the app.
The China-owned company announced the new controls on March 1, with the feature expected to roll out "in the coming weeks."
Under the new rules, users under 18 will get 60 minutes of TikTok screen time per day. A passcode window will pop up after that time expires and you'll have to enter a code to keep going.
The passcode window is there so that you have to "make an active decision to extend that time," Cormac Keenan, TikTok's head of trust and safety, wrote in a blog post.
"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 the current academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital in choosing this limit," Keenan wrote.
He added that according to research, it's helpful just to have something that reminds you about your screen time because you have to make a conscious decision to keep going.
The same system will be in place for users under 13, but Keenan says you'll need a parent or guardian to enter the passcode in order to get 30 minutes of extra screen time.
TikTok has also promised to send a weekly email to its teen users that sums up their time spent on the app.
The controls will be enabled by default for all users under 18 years old, although you can choose to adjust them.
Here's how you can change or turn off the limits on your screen time.
How do I turn off TikTok screen time controls?
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You can change the screen time limits on your TikTok account by hitting your Profile button at the app.
Once you're in your profile, tap Menu, then go to Settings and Privacy and select Screen time. From here you should be able to select Daily screen time.
Once you've gone into the daily screen time menu, you can either set, remove or change your daily limit.
You can also set a passcode for your screen time on this page, and you'll need to remember it later if you want to go over your set limit.
TikTok has also introduced a Family Pairing option that will allow parents to link to their teen's account and control their limits remotely.
The news comes at a critical time for TikTok as lawmakers in the U.S. and Canada have moved to ban it from government tech amid concerns that it could be used to funnel info back to China.
TikTok and other social media platforms, including Instagram and Snapchat, have also faced pressure to limit the amount of time that teens spend using their services.