Sorry kids, one hour is enough.
That’s the message from the TikTok to teenagers this week as the massive social media platform’s head of trust and safety announced new screen limits for all accounts registered to kids and teens under 18.
Once 60 minutes of usage is reached on those accounts, teens will have to enter a passcode in order to keep watching‚ forcing them to make “an active decision” to spend more time on the platform. For kids under 13, a parent or guardian will have to set a passcode to allow 30 extra minutes of time.
TikTok said the move comes after consulting with experts on kids and screen time. “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,” the statement reads.
Teens will also be sent a weekly email from the app detailing their screen time.
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The policy will impact a whole lot of youth in America. According to the Pew Research Center, 67 percent of American teenagers say they use TikTok, and 16 percent of teens say they use it “constantly.”
It is possible to bypass the screen limit setting on TikTok, but developers say this default will be rolled out to minor accounts “in the coming weeks.”