TikTok, the popular video sharing application, has introduced screen time changes to enable teenagers and caregivers to decide on the duration of teens' watch-time.
Cormac Keenan, TikTok head of trust and safety, announced on Wednesday that users under 18 would be automatically limited to 60-minute screen time daily. This change by the short-term video application has been made amid criticism of teens spending too much time on the app.
He said the changes would be implemented in the coming weeks.
“While there is no collectively-endorsed position on the ‘right’ amount of screen time or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we consulted academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital in choosing this limit,” he said.
Though the screen time limit would be a default setting, teens would still have an option to increase it.
“If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time,” Keenan said.
Teens still have option to increase screen time despite 60-minute TikTok limit for under 18s
While the daily restriction would be a default setting, teens would still have an option to increase their screen time on the app.
Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
TikTok, the popular video sharing application, has introduced screen time changes to enable teenagers and caregivers to decide on the duration of teens' watch-time.
Cormac Keenan, TikTok head of trust and safety, announced on Wednesday that users under 18 would be automatically limited to 60-minute screen time daily. This change by the short-term video application has been made amid criticism of teens spending too much time on the app.
He said the changes would be implemented in the coming weeks.
“While there is no collectively-endorsed position on the ‘right’ amount of screen time or even the impact of screen time more broadly, we consulted academic research and experts from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children's Hospital in choosing this limit,” he said.
Though the screen time limit would be a default setting, teens would still have an option to increase it.
“If the 60-minute limit is reached, teens will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching, requiring them to make an active decision to extend that time,” Keenan said.
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For children under 13, the daily screen time limit would also be set to 60 minutes. Should this age group want to increase their screen time, a parent or guardian would need to set or enter an existing passcode to enable 30 minutes of additional watch time.
“Research also shows that being more aware of how we spend our time can help us be more intentional about the decisions we make. So we're also prompting teens to set a daily screen time limit if they opt out of the 60-minute default and spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a day.
“Caregivers will be able to customise the daily screen time limit for their teen — including choosing different time limits depending on the day of the week — giving families more choices to match screen time to school schedules, holiday breaks or family travel.”
The application has millions of users in South Africa. According to ByteDance, TikTok has 11.83-million active users in the country.
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