TikTok’s new time limits for teens: What parents need to know

A digital safety expert has warned parents should not become complacent after TikTok announced new safety features for teens. See what’s new, what to watch.

TikTok has announced it will be rolling out new measures to help parents better understand what their children are doing on the social media platform as well as how much ‘screen time’ they are having.

There are three main changes: a 60-minute daily screen time limit on accounts held by people under 18 years old; screen time dashboards incorporated into the ‘Family Pairing’ feature; and functionality for parents to mute notifications for their children.

TikTok head of Trust and Safety Cormac Keenan said the changes were designed to help families.

“We believe digital experiences should bring joy and play a positive role in how people express themselves, discover ideas and connect,” he said.

TikTok is rolling out some new features, including screen time limits for young users. Picture: Supplied

HOW DO SCREEN TIME LIMITS WORK?

All TikTok users will now be able to set daily screen time limits, customised for each day of the week.

But over the coming weeks, all accounts held by someone under the age of 18 will automatically get a limit of 60 minutes.

When the limit is reached, the user will be prompted to enter a passcode to continue watching.

Mr Keenan said the 60-minute time frame was decided in consultation with research and experts at the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.

In coming weeks accounts held by people aged under 18 will be limited to a daily screen time of 60 minutes. Picture: Supplied

“Research shows that being more aware of how we spend our time can help us be more intentional about the decisions we make,” he said.

“We’ll send every teen account a weekly inbox notification with a recap of their screen time.”

The 60-minute screen time limit can be turned off but if they spend more than 100 minutes on TikTok in a day, they will be prompted to set a daily screen time limit for themselves.

TikTok reports in its first month of testing, this approach increased the use of its screen time management tools by 234 per cent.

HOW DOES THE SCREEN TIME DASHBOARD WORK?

Through the platform’s Family Pairing option, parents will now be able to get summaries on their child’s time on the app, the number of times TikTok was opened and a breakdown on total time spent during the day and time.

“From our recent research, we know screen time is one of the topics parents most frequently discuss with their teens, and we want to support caregivers with relevant information to help them guide their teens,” Mr Keenan said.

TikTok is rolling out some new features to its Family Pairing system and setting daily screen time limits. New screen time limit in family sharing. Picture: Supplied

HOW DO YOU MUTE NOTIFICATIONS?

TikTok is bringing in a new feature that allows users to set schedules for when notifications are on or off.

The setting can also be used by parents to mute notifications for their teens for a certain time period.

Currently, accounts held by 13 to 15-year-olds do not receive notifications after 9pm and they are disabled after 10pm for accounts held by those aged 16 and 17.

Through TikTok’s Family Pairing feature, parents can set schedules for when notifications are on or off. Picture: Supplied

“Every teen is different, and so is every family. That’s why we remain focused on reaching parents with the information they need about TikTok,” Mr Keenan said.

“We hope these features will continue to help families establish an ongoing dialogue about safety and wellbeing in our digital world.”

PARENTS WARNED NOT TO ‘SET & FORGET’

Digital safety expert Kirra Pendergast has warned parents about being complacent with these new features and encouraged them to continue to talk with their children about using social media.

“While these new features are seen as beneficial for the digital wellbeing of children, we must never set and forget,” the founder of Safe on Social said.

“Please continue to have open conversations about rules, limits and what to do when things go wrong.

“There has been no word on the restriction of actual content. Kids may see wildly inappropriate, violent or disturbing content in 60 minutes.”

Ms Pendergast said the measures being rolled out by TikTok required a “strong level of trust between parent and child”, explaining that it would not work for all families.

Kirra Pendergast of Safe on Social. Picture: Supplied

How to activate Family Pairing:

1. Open the TikTok app and log in to your account.
2. Go to your profile by tapping on the “Me” icon at the bottom right corner of the screen.
3. Tap on the three dots in the top right corner to access your settings.
4. Scroll down to the “Digital Wellbeing” section and tap on ”Family Pairing.”
5. Tap “Continue” and choose whether you‘re a parent or a teen.
6. If you‘re a parent, follow the prompts to connect your account to your child’s account. If you’re a teen, you’ll need to enter your parent’s TikTok username and password.
7. Once connected, you can set screen time limits, restrict certain types of content, and control who your child can message on the app.
8. You can also set a passcode to prevent your child from changing the Family Pairing settings without your permission.
9. To access your Family Pairing settings in the future, go back to your settings and tap “Family Pairing.”
   Source: Safe on Social

Originally published as TikTok’s new time limits for teens: What parents need to know